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Phillip Island progress for PATA Honda after slow star

Michael van der Mark set the fourth fastest time on his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP in this afternoon's second free practice session at Phillip Island in Australia in preparation for Sunday's opening round of the 2015 World Superbike championship.

The 22-year-old Dutch rider ended the day in seventh place overall after a slow start in this morning's opening free practice session at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit when cooler track conditions were more favourable for setting a faster time.

Van der Mark's Pata Honda team-mate Sylvain Guintoli also struggled somewhat in the opening free practice session this morning but worked with his team on upping his pace in this afternoon's hotter conditions when track temperatures topped 50°C.

Despite lower grip levels the French ace was able to improve his lap time and ended the session in eighth place although he remains 12th fastest on overall combined times.

Michael van der Mark - P7, 1m31.693s

This afternoon we made a really big step because, to be honest, this morning's first session was a bit of a disappointment. During the test we had some difficulties and we changed the set-up a lot, but we found out this morning that those changes weren't working. We started this afternoon with some more changes and immediately the feeling was completely different, even though the track conditions were not so good like this morning. In the end I set my fastest time in a long run and the bike is much easier to ride now, especially changes in direction. That's what we were working for and to be fourth in the second session and seventh overall makes me really happy, but we'll keep working to improve.

Sylvain Guintoli - P12, 1m32.329s

It was a tough start this morning when we tried something that didn't work so we had to go back to the base setting. The feeling with the bike this afternoon was a little better but I'm still struggling to get dialled in, so there's still a lot of work to do. We're too slow for now and we have to look through all the data to find that last little bit of pace that we need. We're still a little bit on the back foot after missing the test in Jerez and I'm just not quite dialled in yet. We're definitely making progress but sometimes it happens straight away and other times you need a bit more time to find your mark.

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

It hasn't been an easy start for Sylvain and we expected to make a little more progress than we actually have. We're still working on improving settings and defining the bike for his needs. In the hotter conditions this afternoon he was a bit quicker than this morning and finished eighth in the session, which is a positive but there's room for more, which we will continue with tomorrow. Michael also did not have an easy morning session today. We went the wrong way with the setting on the bike and changed it for the afternoon. Immediately the feeling was back and when we put in the last tyre he managed to do a really good run and did a 31.6 as a fastest time. But he could also manage 32.0s easily and to do that in the hot conditions when the grip was lower is very good.

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Free Practice Results
1 Alex Lowes 1m30.855 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
2 Jordi Torres 1m31.214 ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
3 Tom Sykes 1m31.403 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Leon Haslam 1m31.466 GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
5 Jonathan Rea 1m31.541 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Nicolas Terol 1m31.614 ESP DUCATI Althea Racing
7 Michael van der Mark 1m31.693 NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
8 Chaz Davies 1m31.748 GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
9 David Salom 1m31.855 ESP KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
10 Randy de Puniet 1m31.881 FRA SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
11 Leon Camier 1m32.135 GBR MV MV Agusta Reparto Corse
12 Sylvain Guintoli 1m32.329 FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
13 Sylvain Barrier 1m32.393 FRA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team
14 Matteo Baiocco 1m32.565 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
15 Leandro Mercado 1m33.060 ARG DUCATI BARNI Racing Team