Honda World Superbike Team had a successful weekend at Magny-Cours with both Honda riders finishing in the top ten. Michael van der Mark finished the day in fifth while teammate Nicky Hayden finished in ninth.

Van der Mark spent the majority of his race fighting for fourth place with Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who eventually 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 Brit, the 2014 WorldSSP Champion crossed the finish line in fifth position to further consolidate his fourth place standing in the overall Championship standings.

“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,” said van der Mark. “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 the podium again.”

Hayden had a good start and was fighting for fifth but suddenly found himself in eighth place after and overtaking manoeuvre by Leon Camier at the tricky Adelaide hairpin. After dropping down to ninth, the Kentucky Kid managed to recover one place but as the race entered its final stretch, the American could not hold his position and once again slipped back to ninth place.

“It hasn’t been the smoothest of weekends for us,” admitted Hayden. “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.”

The penultimate round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship will see the Honda riders back in action at the Circuito de Jerez in mid October.