Van der Mark talks BMW upgrades for WorldSBK 2023

2023 is a particularly important year for Rokit BMW’s Michael van der Mark, as he attempts to bounce back from two serious injuries that wrecked his 2022 season.

It has been a tumultuous start to the season for all four BMW riders in WorldSBK racing. The new homologation of the M1000RR has proved every bit as fickle as the previous one and of course all the other manufacturers have hardly been standing still over the winter.

Van der Mark had a huge crash that he walked away from at Phillip Island. He would go on to have another in Race Two at Mandalika, but he only suffered a broken finger in a highside that halted the first attempted running, after Philipp Oettl could not avoid VDM’s fallen machine.

It was not all bad news for the Dutchman at Mandalika, however, as he scored a fine sixth place in Race One. Not bad for a rider who had been 14th on the first lap, and especially for any BMW rider. His was the best individual performance for the German manufacturer at Mandalika, and in the Superpole Race he finished eighth, 4.7 seconds from race winner, Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Speaking about his Saturday race, and why it was so strong compared to the BMW starting average, VDM said, “To be fair, I felt really good with the bike. Normally there are a lot of points where, when compared with others, they are a lot stronger, but in this track for some reason the bike just works. The base we have is working really well here. On Friday I was just enjoying it, same for today’s race.”

The difference between a tough qualifying and a satisfying Race One result was explained by van der Mark as a bit of bad luck, most of all. “In the Superpole qualifying, on my second tyre I had a yellow flag. I was on my way to even better, so I was