30/05/21
Circuito Estoril

BMW Motorrad Motorsport 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.

Sykes was the best BMW rider in the morning’s Superpole Race, claiming seventh 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. Sykes initially fell back from seventh on the grid, but was able to move up again in the second half of the race. He crossed the finishing line in eighth.

The third round of the WorldSBK 2021 will take place from 11th to 13th June in Misano, Italy.

“Three riders in the top nine – finishing off the race weekend with this result is certainly something to be pleased about. It was not an easy weekend. Michael produced a very solid second race after he was unfortunately unable to improve at all in this morning’s Superpole Race. Of course, three other riders did take a tumble, but also under these circumstances it’s all about getting a solid result. He put on a great chasing performance and it was good to see that all the BMWs are pretty close to one another. There are still a few things to work on, specifically about finding the drive out of the corners with little grip in these conditions. But I still think that we did really well. We are satisfied, but now we have to take the next step towards the podium. And I am confident we can achieve that over the next three race weekends in Misano, Donington and Assen. On behalf of the whole of the BMW Motorrad Motorsport family I would like to express my sadness at the death of Jason Dupasquier and send his family and friends our condolences. This sad news has overshadowed the race today.”

“The bike was much better today than yesterday. We made a small change and really felt a big improvement on the bike. And again, just struggling, such a shame when fighting for track position. For whatever reason, at the moment we lose track positions to some other riders. The BMW M 1000 RR is certainly strong in some sectors of the track and we are just getting an understanding why. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind some other riders and that gave us an issue today with the braking system. Once I got a clear track, I picked up a lot more speed and found a much better rhythm. Obviously I am not happy with the result but, considering where we were yesterday, it’s a big, big improvement. We definitely learnt a lot on this Sunday afternoon in Estoril and now we need to keep improving.”

“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.”