July 2, 2020 – Michael van der Mark will ride for the World Cup Superbike team at BMW in 2021. The racing stable confirmed this on Thursday morning.
On Tuesday it was announced that Van der Mark will leave Yamaha at the end of this year, the brand for which he has driven for the past four seasons. The 27-year-old rider was, Yamaha wrote, looking for a new challenge. He found it at BMW, where he will drive under the wings of experienced team boss Shaun Muir.
“We are delighted with Michel joining the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team,” said Muir, who runs the BMW operation in WSBK. “He brings a lot of experience, is one of the youngest and most talented drivers on the WSBK grid. Bringing in Michael focuses our focus even more on scoring good results, giving Michael the best chances for that goal reach.”
Van der Mark grew into a leader at Yamaha in recent seasons, but could never really compete for the world title. The driver finished his best season in 2018 with a third place in the final classification. A similar result was also possible in 2019, but after a crash in San Marino, the Rotterdammer was out of circulation for a few races.
BMW returned in 2019 with a factory operation, performed by Shaun Muir Racing, in the World Championship Superbikes. The brand achieved mixed results with drivers Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger. Sykes was on the podium twice and made it to eighth place in the final standings. Reiterberger was replaced for Eugene Laverty for this season.
Van der Mark has not yet responded to his upcoming switch.
