21/05/21
MotorLand Aragón
The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team today completed day 1 of the 2021 World Superbike Championship at MotorLand Aragon. Fresh from the pre-season test here just two weeks ago, this would be the first time that all competitors would be on track together.
In FP1, both Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark did well, consistently staying in the top part of the standings however with bike set-up being the focus of the session. Tom spent majority of the session within the top 3, however dropped places in the final moments as he opted to remain with his used tyre throughout – gaining valuable data.
Michael equally went about his FP1 well, still getting to know his BMW M 1000 RR the team made some minor adjustments during the session which resulted in him finishing in P9. (1’50.966) +1.014 behind session topper Toprak Razgatlioglu.
In the final session of the day the track temperature soared meaning lack of grip hindered both riders. Michael had an unfortunate crash at T8, which resulted in him sitting out the session, thankfully he was unharmed. Sykes missed out on the top 10 positions, finishing in P13 (1’52.061).
On combined session times, Tom Sykes finished in P9, Michael van der Mark in P11.