SOLID RACE RESULTS FOR THE BMW M 1000 RR ON A HOT WORLDSBK SATURDAY AT NAVARRA
The first race day of the debut FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) event at Navarra, Spain, has come to an end. BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team rider Michael van der Mark ended the hard-fought qualifying session in tenth position.
A special surprise lay in wait for van der Mark on the grid later when BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers and Shaun Muir, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team Principal, presented the new father with a BMW Babyracer.
Air temperatures had already reached 24 degrees Celsius by late morning, climbing to over 30 degrees by the time the race began. Van der Mark was able to get into eighth before moving up to seventh on lap seven, where he remained until reaching the finish line.
Michael: “To be honest, I was expecting a lot more. This morning, we made a huge step in performance and in lap time consistency. Also in Superpole, we’ve made a good step. I was tenth but the gap to P5 was really close. I was happy with that, but in the warmer conditions in the race the bike just did not react like in the cooler conditions. It’s normal but I struggled too much so we need to find a solution for tomorrow.”