News

Van der Mark vaults to top of FP3, top 12 covered by less than a second

Saturday, 1 August 2020 07:36 GMT

    • Yamaha packed out the top six with four riders within it, whilst Rea and Redding led the charge to the Japanese manufacturer

    The 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s first action of Saturday set the scene for the day ahead as a flurry of action ended the session with plenty of improvements. Track temperatures were favourable for the fastest lap times of the weekend which produced a staggeringly close and compact leaderboard, although it was Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) who has the advantage ahead of Tissot Superpole.

    Michael van der Mark made the most of the track temperatures and after a Race 2 win at Jerez last season, he’s ready to bring the fight once again. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was up in second place having led for the majority of the session, whilst it was Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) who was third, continuing his strong pace. Fourth belonged to Toprak Razgatlioglu, making it three Yamaha riders inside the top four. Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was up in fifth place and showed positive signs for Ducati.

    Sixth place was an impressive performance from Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team), who continued Yamahas dominance. Championship leader Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was seventh ahead of former KRT rider Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), both of whom made steps in FP3. Leon Haslam (Team HRC) was the first of the Hondas in ninth whilst fastest in FP2 Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) placed his Ducati in tenth, making it three Independent riders inside the top ten.

    Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was only 11th ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC), whilst there was an unfortune Turn 1 crash for Christophe Ponsson, but he was OK.

    Top six after FP3, full results here!

    1 Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) 1’39.639

    2.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.205

    3.) Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.206

    4.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +0.280

    5.) Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +0.464

    6.) Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) +0.468

    Make sure to follow all of the action throughout the remainder of the weekend with the WorldSBK VideoPass!