Honda’s van der Mark targets top five finish at Imola
Honda rider feels positive about his bike and chances at a track he likes
HONDA WSBK rider Michael van der Mark says that his goal at Imola this weekend is a pair of top five finishes at minimum.
He hopes to improve on his disastrous results from last season’s race at Imola, when he managed a ninth in race one and was forced to retire from race two.
Speaking about his chance of being competitive on the heavily worked-on Honda Fireblade this weekend, van der Mark was confident about being able to challenge for a good result, saying:
‘I'm really looking forward to Imola, a track that I really enjoy riding. With the big improvements made to the Fireblade over the winter and in the first four rounds, I'm pretty sure we will be much more competitive than last year.
‘Given the many podiums we have collected so far, my goal for the Italian round is to be at least in the top 5. The team and I have some ideas to improve the bike setup and we will try some new things, which we didn't have time to evaluate in Assen.’
Michael van der Mark currently is currently fourth in the World Superbike championship standings, 32 points adrift of third place Tom Sykes, but 33 points ahead of team-mate Nicky Hayden in fifth.
