Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) made a long-awaited return to the top step of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with victory in Race 1 at the Motul French Round. He timed his switch to full wet tyres to perfection at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and, despite pressure from Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), held on to claim BMW’s 14 win in a row.

FAST FROM THE START: van der Mark shines in the wet

The Dutchman started from fifth place on the grid using Pirelli’s front SC1 and rear SCX tyres, using that to great effect in the drier parts of the race. With the rain coming down even harder, van der Mark opted to switch his slicks for the full wet tyres on Lap 4 and came out with Lowes, who had pitted on the same lap. The duo were fighting over second place as Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) had opted to stay out on his intermediate tyres but he crashed from P1 at Turn 7 on Lap 7, handing the lead to Lowes and van der Mark.

Van der Mark was running in P2 when his former Yamaha teammate crashed at Turn 13, handing van der Mark the lead by almost 10 seconds ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), who started from 17^th and pitted a lap earlier than the BMW star. It meant van der Mark’s wait for a podium and win ended as he came home in first place, 1070 days on from his last win at Portimao in a wet Tissot Superpole Race.

"IT'S BEEN A TOUGH COUPLE OF YEARS" - 1070 days later...

Discussing his win, van der Mark said: “It feels unreal. It’s been a tough couple of years. I think this year’s been going better and better, and my goal was to be on the podium. To win here is fantastic. I made the wrong decision! We agreed with the team that as soon as it started raining, I’d come into pit. I was behind Alex, and if you see him going, you think you can do another one. I think I should’ve come in earlier. When it was raining and I was on slicks, it was very, very tricky. This is what was flag-to-flag racing is all about and, after that, I didn’t make a mistake. It was nice but a tough race.”

Van der Mark’s win came off the back of a victory streak of 13 races for the German manufacturer, but all of those – and, in fact, all of BMW’s podiums this season – had come from Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). With ‘El Turco’ ruled out of action after his Free Practice 2 crash, van der Mark continued BMW’s winning streak in style as he took his first win in more than 1,000 days and his first full-length win since 2019.

INSTANT REACTION FROM ESCHENBACHER: "Altogether, we brought him back!"

Giving BMW’s immediate reaction, van der Mark’s Crew Chief, Marcus Eschenbacher said in the pit lane: “It’s perfect for him. He did a super job; the team did a super job. Thanks to Toprak’s side, the team is unbelievable and we, altogether, brought him back. Step by step, we’ll see him strong. It’s perfect. Michael is good in the wet and he’s back to the sort of level of 2021 again.”

Likewise adding his thoughts at the end of the day, BMW Motorrad Sporting Director Marc Bongers said: “I feel fantastic; his win is fantastic and I’m so pleased for him. After a very difficult day on Friday with Toprak’s injury and a potential risk for the Championship, we hoped that the BMWs could help holding off some of the red bikes for the Championship. Mikey turned it around perfectly by winning the race, Scott was P4 although he crashed! Unfortunately, Garrett crashed and then made a mistake in pitlane and couldn’t help but our biggest opponent didn’t score any points, so it was lucky for us in a way. I’m extremely pleased for Mikey and the team on the other side too and it shows that the BMW has become a really good package.”

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