Buriram WSBK: Van der Mark scores maiden pole
Michael van der Mark secured his maiden World Superbike pole at Buriram, beating the two Kawasakis to the top position in Superpole.
The 23-year-old became the first Honda rider to top qualifying since Jonathan Rea at Imola in 2014.
Van der Mark led the way in the early stages of the second Superpole session and was the last to improve in the dying minutes.
He stole the lead from Tom Sykes with his penultimate effort and, while the Briton failed to improve on his final lap, Van der Mark went even quicker to claim the pole by two tenths.
Sykes had to settle for third, having been beaten by Jonathan Rea as well, the Kawasaki teammates setting identical times.
Having been the leader after the mid-session pit stops, Ducati's Chaz Davies eventually dropped back to fourth, followed by Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) and Davide Giugliano (Ducati).
The second Yamaha of Alex Lowes took seventh, narrowly edging out Nicky Hayden (Honda), as the top 10 was completed by the Althea BMWs of Markus Reiterberger and Jordi Torres.
Superpole 2 Times:
Pos | Rider | Team | Bike | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michael van der Mark | Honda World Superbike Team | Honda CBR1000RR SP | 1:33.452 |
2 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:33.671 |
3 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki Racing | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:33.671 |
4 | Chaz Davies | Ducati Team | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 1:33.844 |
5 | Sylvain Guintoli | Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:33.866 |
6 | Davide Giugliano | Ducati Team | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 1:33.983 |
7 | Alex Lowes | Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:34.371 |
8 | Nicky Hayden | Honda World Superbike Team | Honda CBR1000RR SP | 1:34.416 |
9 | Markus Reiterberger | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW S1000 RR | 1:34.796 |
10 | Jordi Torres | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW S1000 RR | 1:34.859 |
11 | Karel Abraham | Milwaukee BMW | BMW S1000 RR | 1:34.958 |
12 | Matteo Baiocco | VFT Racing | Ducati 1199 Panigale R | 1:35.513 |
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