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The 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship visited the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and it was a strong weekend for Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who narrowly missed out on a return to the rostrum on Sunday in the Tissot Superpole Race. It was his joint-best result of the season as he continues to fight at the front during the campaign, backing up his fourth place with P7 in Race 2 during the Pirelli Portuguese Round.

Dutch rider van der Mark was inside the top ten in Friday’s combined classification as he showed his hand early, and claimed fifth in Saturday afternoon’s Tissot Superpole session. He posted a 1’40.246s to start from the second row, half-a-second down on teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu with the pair working together during the 15-minute session. In Race 1, the #60 finished in sixth before finishing two places higher in the Superpole Race, losing out to Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in a thrilling last-lap fight.

Reflecting on Sunday as a whole, the #60 said: “I think we must be happy. It was quite difficult because I was so close to getting onto the podium in the Superpole Race. I was lined up perfectly behind Alex into the last corner and unfortunately, just before the finish line, the bike started to wheelie, and I lost some speed. A shame to lose out on the podium but it was nice to fight again. One of the most important things is to have a good position again for Race 2. Starting fourth is not so bad, I had a good start in Race 2, but I immediately struggled a little bit with the bike; it didn’t feel as good as Sunday morning or Saturday. I think due to the wind. We had a good strategy with Toprak. I took the lead, tried to go but I didn’t have the pace I was expecting. I struggled a lot during the race. I fought as hard as I could but, at one point, I couldn’t go faster or fight back like I wanted. Finishing seventh is not where I wanted to be but, looking back at the weekend, the whole team had a fantastic weekend in Portugal.”

Van der Mark and Razgatlioglu were re-united for the 2024 season on the BMW M 1000 RR, having worked together at Yamaha in 2020. They have often shown they have a good working and personal relationship and that’s continued this year, with van der Mark celebrating Razgatliolgu’s Superpole Race win which was a record-breaking victory. Five-time race winner van der Mark spoke about the disappointment of losing out on a podium but also how Razgatlioglu is helping him fight for the top positions once again.

The BMW star said: “It was hard to accept. It gave me a lot of confidence as well. We know we’re getting closer, step by step. As an athlete, you always want more. I should be happy with P4, but I could smell the podium. We’ll keep building on this and I’m sure it’ll come. It’s nice to share the box with him. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m getting closer and closer to the podium, because I can learn a lot from him. This weekend, we showed we worked together really well already in practice. We have to work together because the competition is so close. Having him in the pit box is fantastic and it’s even better that we work together and want to help each other.

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