Ending day one of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in 12^th position, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) is feeling positive that he will have a strong race pace for the opening race of the season, at the Yamaha Finance Australian Round.

Unable to improve on his time set in the morning’s opening free practise, van der Mark takes forward a solid race pace which he is confident will stand him in good stead for the race. With plans to work on corner entry for tomorrow, his time of 1.31.315 will need to be improved on as he fights for a spot in Superpole 2.

The 2014 World Supersport champion explains: “We wanted to check the lap time before the end of the session, but there was no improvement. We have to take the positives, we did the long run which was OK; we just need to find a couple of tenths.

It’s a shame we’re not in SP2 but I’m pretty sure that tomorrow in the race we will have quite a good pace. The main thing we have to work on is the entry of the corners. This is where I struggle and is why I lose a lot of time; this is the main thing we have to work on. I want to win, but I think top five is our goal and I think it’s quite possible”

Saturday is full of WorldSBK action as the series officially gets underway for the Yamaha Finance Australian Round, with all action starting at 10.20AM LT (+11 GMT).