Recovering van der Mark soldiers on for brace of top tens

Michael van der Mark says the mistake that left him at the back of the field for two of this weekend’s three WorldSBK races ultimately prevented him from managing better results at Donington Park, rather than his recently-injured wrist

Back on the Pata Yamaha just 10 days after undergoing surgery on the wrist, van der Mark showed few ill-effects from the ailment during practice by quickly getting up to speed.

However, he found himself with even more work to do in race one when a tactical error saw him complete his final qualifying laps on wet tyres, unlike his dry-shod rivals.

Forced to start race one and the Superpole Race from 16th on the grid, van der Mark made solid progress in both to finish eighth in each, following it up with an identical result in race two.

Blaming the lowly grid position for preventing him from pushing on with his injured wrist, the Dutchman was nonetheless satisfied with his points collection in the context of troubled build up to the event..

“We made a change to the bike after the Sprint Race and I think we maybe went a little bit in the wrong direction, as I was struggling for rear grip from the start and couldn't use the new tyre like everyone else.

“I actually got a good start but then dropped back quite quickly and there wasn't much I could do about it. I had good pace, but I'd have liked to have been able to push harder.

“We have to be happy with the points we've scored this weekend, given the injury, but as a racer I know that if I had the grip then I'd have been able to fight with Alex and the other guys. The wrist was much better than I was expecting this weekend, so now I can look forward to Laguna with some confidence."