Prior to Toprak Razgatlioglu’s arrival at the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, BMW had not won more than a single race in a season since 2013, when Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri won three apiece. The 2024 season shattered that drought however, and in his first season with the team, Razgatlioglu broke the previous record for most consecutive wins in a season, with 13 in a row, and would go on to win 18 in the season. BMW capped off the season of their meteoric rise with an emblematic podium at Jerez in Race 2, where Razgatlioglu and teammate  Michael van der Mark shared the podium for the first time in the season. The 10-year WorldSBK rider gave his takes on the upcoming season at BMW’s team launch event.

Van der Mark is looking forward to his fifth season with the ROKiT BMW Motorrad World SBK team, fully healthy and with an improved M 1000 RR bike, the Dutch rider is confident of his team’s capabilities this season. “We want to start where we finished the season, on the podium,” said van der Mark. “We had a strong 2024, with a really good end to it. Now with the new M 1000 RR, we’ve improved it in a lot of areas so I think we should be fighting for the podium from round one.”

Van der Mark and his teammate have been friends off the track for a long time, starting from when they were teammates at the factory Yamaha team. This friendship has grown have the years have progressed, helping each other on track as well as off. On their friendship, van der Mark said: “I think last year we knew throughout the season that we would help each other, but I think we’ve grown that to another level. We help each other everywhere we can because the WorldSBK field is so strong, so as a team you want to be the best, and I’m lucky to have Toprak in the garage because he’s the most talented guy. I’m really happy to work with him, and we all want to work together, the whole team feels good, and this makes us strong.”

The Dutch rider is looking forward to what he hopes will be a breakout 2025 season, and if this ROKiT BMW team can pick up where they ended in 2024, they will be a tough tandem to beat. “My wish honestly is that we fight for the world title, and I want to be on the podium as much as possible,” said van der Mark. “I think the ultimate dream would be winning the Rider’s Championship and the Manufacturers’ Championship.”

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