Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) continues to build on his already strong pace with his new team for 2017, as he ended the opening day of the Phillip Island test in fourth position.

Changeable weather conditions plagued the opening day of action, as riders put in limited lap times throughout the morning session with rain falling in intervals, on an already cold Australian surface. The Dutchman only put in four laps in FP1, not wanting to risk too much ahead of the opening round of the season in just four days time.

However this afternoon was much more productive for van der Mark, and he ends the day feeling positive aboard the YZF R1 with a new engine to test tomorrow: “It was quite a difficult day today because it was wet and dry – so a mix of everything. This morning I just went out to check the bike and to see if everything was working. This afternoon I went out and stayed out; I felt immediately happy with the bike on track and by my last outing I was able to improve my lap times quite a lot. I felt happy but then I had a problem with the front tyre - it was pinched so I was struggling. But we know what we have to improve and after today I’m quite happy. We will use the new engine tomorrow and hopefully we will have only a dry track.”

Bikes head out on track for the final day of the Official WorldSBK test at 11.20am (GMT +11), as van der Mark will be looking to make the final improvements as the season is set to kick off.