The man with the winning pedigree

Age 26 Bike Yamaha YZF R1 The Dutchman hasn’t hidden the fact his left wrist isn’t quite back to normal after his scaphoid-breaking crash in Qatar last year. Thankfully it happened late enough in the season not to effect his third place overall. Van der Mark’s focus in pre-season has been testing chassis components including a new swingarm wheeled into both the Crescent and GRT garages. The R1 is still struggling on the exit of slow corners and progress wasn’t helped by very gusty conditions at the recent Portimao test. The biggest challenge will come from the other side of his own garage, as team-mate Alex Lowes looks in red-hot form.