The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours today witnessed the second race of the World Superbike French Round, with Honda WorldSBK Team’s Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden claiming fifth and ninth places on board their Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines.

Van der Mark spent the majority of his race fighting for fourth place with Leon Camier, who overtook him on lap 12. The Dutch rider did all he could not to lose touch but, after one last effort to bridge the gap to the tall Englishman, the 2014 World Supersport Champion crossed the finish line in fifth position, a result that allows him further to consolidate his fourth place in the Championship standings.

Hayden got a good start to the race and was running fifth, but he suddenly found himself in eighth place following an overtaking manoeuvre by Leon Camier at the tricky Adelaide hairpin. After dropping down to ninth, the American rider got up to speed again and managed to recover one place. As the race entered its final stretch, the ‘Kentucky Kid’ could not hold his position and once again slipped back to ninth place.

The penultimate round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship will be contested at ‘Circuito de Jerez’ in two weekends.



Michael van der Mark - 60 - 5th

The settings we tried in warm up didn’t really work out so we used the ones from FP2, the only long session I had this weekend. My start and first lap were great; I had a consistent pace, just a little bit slower than I’d hoped. When I got in front of Camier I tried to pull away but it was not possible and, when he passed me, I simply couldn’t stay with him. In the end, fifth is not a bad result. We scored some more important points and now we have a solid fourth place in the Championship in our hands. Hopefully, in two weeks’ time at Jerez we will be able to challenge for honours again.

Nicky Hayden - 69 - 9th

It hasn’t been the smoothest of weekends for us. I got a good start but lost some places at turn four, which I wasn’t able to get back. I had a little problem with engine braking and towards the end I picked up some vibration that hurt me in the battle for sixth, but the reality is that I got behind on Friday morning; also it would have been nice to do some laps in the dry yesterday in race one, but that didn’t happen. In the end, it was a combination of things and I was never able to catch up. If I really want to find a positive, today I set my fastest laps of the weekend, but that’s clearly not enough. It’s never nice to end the weekend with this feeling, but it is what it is. Now it’s time to look forward to Jerez, a track I really like.

Pieter Breddels - Technical Manager

This morning, we tried some changes to the bike setup with Michael but ultimately we decided to go back to the settings we found on Friday afternoon. Having missed the whole free practice 1 session really took its toll today, because there was only very little we could try before the race. Michael did a very good start and rode a great race, so fifth overall is a good result, especially if we look at the standings. Nicky also had a good start but he was pushed off-line at the beginning. He rode as hard as he could, but unfortunately his feeling with the bike wasn’t perfect. Friday was not an easy day for him and with how the weather was yesterday, he didn’t have enough time in the dry to improve. Now it’s time to look forward to Jerez, a track where we have tested already and that should suit our bike very well.