There were a few shudders and shivers in the riders’ seats as they arrived in Portugal.And the weather was not about to let up, with rain and high winds hitting on Sunday official WorldSBK Free Practice.
The weather gods were not smiling on the final day of free practice at the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship Portuguese Round this year,.But that didn’t hold back the enthusiasm of the WorldSBK paddock.Who came forward in force to give it their all over the day’s three sessions.
After a lovely weekend in front of an incredible crowd in sunny southern Portugal, teams and riders would be racing for their names in the record books once again.
Then the BMW rider takes to the top as the weather turns nasty in Portugal Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). Took to the top of the timesheets in free practice at Round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.
Michael van der Mark
Michael van der Mark was able to take full advantage of the warm-up session and, having used it to his advantage and re-familiarised himself with the circuit.Went straight to work on set-up and a new tyre benchmark for the rest of the paddock.
His time of 1’55.355s saw him emerge from pit lane and once again experience the ever-changing conditions on the track.
After initially struggling with some ripples on the surface.Michael found a way through them and flew around the track to take pole.
While we could see Loris Baz of Team GoEleven following Michael van der Mark and Haslam following Baz, on the other hand, Redding, Rea and Rinaldi took fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Top 6 in free practice
- 1. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’55.355s
- 2. Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) +0.135s
- 3. Leon Haslam (Team HRC) +0.666s
- 4. Scott Redding (Aruba. it Racing – Ducati) +0.767s
- 5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.084s
- 6. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba. it Racing – Ducati) +1.831s
via WSBK
