WORLDSBK SUNDAY IN ESTORIL: THREE BMW M 1000 RRS IN THE TOP TEN
BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team rounded off the second race weekend in the 2021 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Estoril (POR) with a solid Sunday: three BMW M 1000 RRs were among the top nine to cross the line in the second main race. Michael van der Mark (NED) from the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team rode his way up from 14th on the grid to finish sixth on his BMW M 1000 RR. His team-mate, Tom Sykes (GBR), finished eighth. Eugene Laverty (IRL), competing for the BMW satellite team RC Squadra Corse, wrapped up a strong Sunday in ninth place.
Van der Mark ended the Superpole Race in 13th. In the second race, that featured incidents and falls in the leading group, the BMW riders produced a consistent and error-free performance. As had been the case in Saturday’s first race, van der Mark put on another impressive chasing performance. He started from 14th after the Superpole Race and had already reached the top ten on the second lap. It did not take long for van der Mark to move up to seventh place and he was able to secure sixth spot on lap 15 of 21.
The third round of the WorldSBK 2021 will take place from 11th to 13th June in Misano, Italy.
“This morning’s warm-up was really good: at least I felt good – I was consistent. Also for the Superpole Race I felt really good, but in warm-up we had changed the bike a little bit. That was good, but as soon as the temperatures went up I struggled a little bit. So the Superpole Race was not that ideal and we even lost two places on the grid. But anyway, in race two the temperatures were much higher than yesterday so we gambled to go for the ‘SC X’ tyre, which was the right choice. The start was a bit messy – I had a good start but in all three races I was a bit unlucky and could not improve my position in the first corner. But at the end I was able to go at quite a consistent pace. I had the chance to follow many riders and I think our bike has made a huge improvement, especially over a race distance and when it comes to conserving the tyre. We just need to find a little bit more drive out of the corners and that should be our next big step to improve on the bike.”