Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark faces SP1 on Saturday after a red flag and heavy shower soon after left him unable to improve on 11th in practice for the German World Superbike round.
The Pata Yamaha team missed the two-day test at the Lausitzring during the summer break as both van der Mark and Alex Lowes were in Japan preparing for the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race – which the pair won alongside Yamaha veteran Katsuyuki Nakasuga.
This left the duo with a lot of set-up work to do in both sessions, van der Mark only 10th after a tricky first practice.
Some changes to his R1 pointed him in the right direction when he fitted fresh slicks, but before van der Mark could make any improvement on 11th spot the session was stopped when his team-mate’s machine’s engine let go and leaked fluid on circuit.
A heavy shower during the red flag period meant laptimes remained unchanged at the chequered flag, though van der Mark is confident the changes the team made to his bike would have comfortably seen him make the SP2 cut.
“This morning was a little bit difficult, as we were trying to find a better set-up for the bike and it proved tricky,” he said.
“This afternoon we changed quite a lot and at first, it didn’t really work for me, but then we put some new tyres in and I made quite a step.
Unfortunately, that was when the red flag came out and then the rain came.
“At that point I was 11th, which is a shame as I had the pace to get through to SP2. I think we could have improved the bike a lot more if it stayed dry but we have to live with it.”
While resigned to his fate as an SP1 runner on Saturday morning, van der Mark admits he felt strong on the Yamaha in this afternoon’s wet running.
“One positive point was that when the session restarted it was wet and I had a great feeling with the bike, so it felt good to do some laps in those conditions as you never know what will happen on race day.
“We have to improve some more things on the bike, but I think we are going in the right direction.”
