Reigning World Supersport Champion Michael Van Der Mark began his rookie season in WSBK lapping on the Pata Honda Fireblade with no electronics to ensure he got a proper feel for the jump on power.

The Dutch youngster put in some good laptimes with a best of 1’41.437 and used the Pirelli qualifier for the first time but he also had to content with wet weather laps.

“When I first got on the bike on Monday it was certainly different, but I’ve really enjoyed this first test! The weather hasn’t been so great but I started on the first two days with no electronics, just to get a feel for the bike and a new level of power,” said van der Mark.

“On Wednesday I used a bit more of the electronics and we made some really big changes just to see what each part of the system can do, so that was really useful. I was quite happy with everything this week and also happy with my lap times on old tyres. I also used a qualifying tyre on Wednesday and was able to go around a second faster on that, which is the expectation I think.”