23/07/21
TT Assen Circuit

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team today concluded the opening day of Free Practice at the historic TT Assen Circuit inside the top 6 places. Following the success of the previous round at Donington Park, the duo of Tom Sykes and local hero Michael van der Mark were eager to replicate this going into FP1 this morning. Tom Sykes was fast out the box and quickly adapted his BMW M 1000 RR to the 4.542m circuit, lapping consistently in the 1’35.00’s. His best lap came in at 1’35.117, placing him in P6. Michael van der Mark struggled to find a good setting during FP1 as he found himself in P11, just out the top 10 with a 1’35.320.

The pace intensified going into the final free practice session of the day with the top 10 places covered by only half a second. Tom Sykes was the fastest of the BMW’s overall as he improved on his time set this morning, dipping into the sub 1’35.000’s with a 1’34.753 to put him in P5 overall. Michael equally improved on his time from this morning as he made some solid steps forward with him BWW M1000 RR. His overall position – P11.

“A solid day for both Tom and Michael on the BMW M 1000RR’s. The pace is really fast and the times are close throughout, it’s the closest it has been so far this season and we are happy with the positions we are in. Tom showed good pace, as has Michael with him settling into to some new settings so overall happy with day 1. We still have work to do going into tomorrow but as you can see from the times from 1^st to 10^th it is +0.583 which means that qualifying tomorrow will be so vitally important. It will dictate and shape the outcome of the race and starting positions which hopefully are within the first two rows. If we can get into those positions, it will give us a chance of some really strong results.”

“It’s been a good day one here in Assen. To start off the guys at the Assen circuit have done a good job with the resurfacing on the track, its smooth and such a pleasure to ride. The BMW M 1000RR is working well from the previous data at Donington. Myself and my crew chief have put a plan in place and have had a smooth Friday. We have been able explore the base set up this morning in FP1 and going into FP2 we were able to expand into different tyre options that Pirelli have brought here, so now I feel we are quite prepared on this. One thing we didn’t do was fine tune that base set up on the bike which is something we will focus on tomorrow. So overall, today was a good strong performance from the whole of the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully the weather stays dry and consistent.”

“It was quite a positive Friday if you look at our lap times and pace. We made a big step from this morning’s FP1 to FP2 as this morning I was not happy with the bike. Unfortunately, the position is not where we want to be, but with the progress we made from this morning is a good step. There are a couple of tenths missing to the front guys which is really close, but if we make that time up we will be in and around where we are wanting to be. I am happy with how our Friday has gone and looking forward now to Saturday’s Superpole and Race 1.”