The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team enjoyed an encouraging start to round ten of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship on Friday despite tricky conditions due to high winds and a bumpy track at Portimao. Alex Lowes ended the day in seventh on the combined timesheets after showing good improvement in both sessions. His teammate Michael van der Mark also made good progress throughout the day to finish in ninth place, with both riders making it directly through to SP2 on Saturday.