MAGNY-COURS, France – Michael van der Mark topped the overall World Superbike Championship practice sheets on Friday at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours as rain drenched the proceedings.
Van Der Mark, who elected to sit out the second session due to the weather, posted his best time in the first round and lapped the 2.741-mile, 17-turn course in 1:51.852 aboard a Yamaha YZF R1.
“For the second practice, it started to rain and we weren’t sure what to plan (for), as it looks like the rest of the weekend will be dry,” he explained. “During the session, it started to rain a lot more so we decided just to wait and see. In the end, I didn’t ride in FP2 because we think tomorrow and Sunday will be dry, so a bit of a weird day, but the first feeling was good today.”
Leon Haslam was second-quick on a Kawasaki ZX-10RR at 1:52.075, followed by GRT’s Marco Melandri in third at 1:52.647 on a Yamaha.
Argentina’s Leandro Mercado was fourth ahead of Loriz Baz, followed by Alessandro Delbianco, defending champion Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes, Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Eugene Laverty.
Both Rea and title rival Alvaro Bautista crashed in the first free practice round, with the incidents happening just minutes apart. Rea nearly went down again during final practice, but stayed on his bike and led an even wetter practice round at 1:54.548.