The Honda WorldSBK Team has returned to Italy to take part in the eighth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend. Hosting the event this time is the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’: the same venue where, at the start of the month of June, Nicky Hayden, Michael van der Mark and the Netherlands-based squad performed a successful one-day private test not only to fully prepare for the weekend itself, but also for getting a good set-up for the remainder of the season.

Nicky Hayden is ready for his official WorldSBK debut at Misano, a circuit where the ‘Kentucky Kid’ has raced eight times already during his MotoGP career. The 34-year-old American is looking forward to improving on his current best result at this track – a seventh-place finish scored in 2012 – before heading to his much-anticipated home round at Laguna Seca in early July.

In his maiden World Superbike season last year, Michael van der Mark left Misano with a couple of top 10 finishes, while in 2014 he was second at the line in the WorldSSP race after a good battle with Jules Cluzel. The Misano test proved very useful for the 23-year-old from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, who has got back the good feeling he had with his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine earlier in the season. With some renewed confidence on hand, ‘Magic Mike’ now aims to get back in the mix at the sharp end of the field.

Nicky Hayden 69

It’s time for Misano! Looking forward to it, as I spent the last weekend watching my brother racing – and winning – in Alabama for MotoAmerica. Being a spectator is nice but surely makes you want to get back in the saddle as soon as possible! Misano is in a great area, in a part of Italy where I base myself a lot in the summer, so I have a lot of friends there. The track has never been too kind to me and never been one where I have been able to make my own luck. The second part of the track with the fast right corners is where you really make the lap-time, although the first tight-and-slow section is where we need to improve the most. Hopefully we can start on the right foot and put up a good fight.

Michael van der Mark 60

After the test in Misano I found a good feeling with my Fireblade again. We definitely needed that test and I want to thank the team and Honda for setting it up. It’s time for us to put a good weekend together and get back where we belong, as we have been missing the podium for a few rounds now. It’s the second half of the season now so every race is crucial for the final classification and we cannot afford ourselves just OK results anymore. I’m really looking forward to the weekend now and hopefully we’ll be able to get what we’re here for.

Pieter Breddels - Technical Manager

I think the one-day test at the start of the month could be really crucial for the outcome of the round. We now have a lot of information in terms of base suspension settings, gearing and so on. We know now where we are and where we need to go regarding set-ups and this is very important for both riders. We will have some small upgrades in terms of electronics to test, regarding more the overall functionality of the system rather than the performance itself, and we still have some items to try. Friday will be key to the whole weekend, so we will start with the settings we have and build up from there.