PODIUM FOR MICHAEL VAN DER MARK AND THE BMW MOTORRAD WORLDSBK TEAM AT SEASON FINALE IN INDONESIA
Strong performance at the finale in Indonesia: The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and Michael van der Mark (NED) have rounded off the 2021 season in the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) with a podium finish. The Dutchman rode his BMW M 1000 RR to third place in a rainy second race on Sunday. In the first race, van der Mark had finished sixth in largely dry conditions.
In the Superpole on Saturday morning, Sykes secured sixth spot on the grid with van der Mark in ninth place on the third row. Extremely heavy rainfall started just before the scheduled start of the first race on Saturday afternoon and the conditions made it impossible for any racing to take place on Saturday. The schedule was changed to include two long races on Sunday.
The start of race one on Sunday morning was delayed by 15 minutes due to a rain shower. However, the riders were able to start on dry tyres. Van der Mark fell back a little at the start but worked his way forward to reach fifth place at the halfway point of the race. He then dropped down one place in the closing phase, crossing the line in sixth position.
As had happened on the previous day, the rain arrived just as the second race was about to begin on Sunday afternoon. The start was delayed by more than one and a half hours and the race was shortened to twelve laps. Van der Mark immediately moved up into the top 5 and was involved in a thrilling duel for third place on the wet circuit with new world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR / Yamaha). Van der Mark prevailed in this battle, claiming another podium finish to round off the season. It was a strong end to a weekend during which van der Mark had struggled with gastrointestinal problems.
Michael: “Race one this morning was quite fun. At the start, it was a bit wet here and there and this track has quite a lot of grip with slicks in the wet patches. So I was enjoying the first part of the race and thought I could be battling for the front but then it started to dry pretty quick. I was battling for fifth, fourth position, feeling good and my pace was okay but I was still not feeling well. At the end of the race I was frustrated because I ran out of energy and I lost another position. I was really angry about that but I had to deal with it. Then race two unfortunately was postponed but it was the right decision.”
“When we went racing, the track was fully wet and it was still raining a little bit. I knew that the track would have a lot of grip and these 12 laps I think were long enough. I had a good start and okay first laps. It was so much fun and at a certain point I was battling with Toprak. We had some really nice battles on track, it went back and forward and I really enjoyed it. To finish the season with third place is incredible, it is always nice to finish the season on the podium and especially knowing we had so much fun. I think the season has been quite good but we want to make steps forward this winter to be able to fight for the podium more often and also in the dry.”