Van Der Mark wins BMW’s first World Superbike race in eight years

Michael Van Der Mark has become the first rider to win a World Superbike race for BMW in eight years, while also becoming the first to win on the new M 1000 RR machine. 

Van Der Mark’s win came in extremely tricky conditions after heavy rain fell before the warm-up session. 

The Dutch rider started from fifth, but was quickly able to make his way through into second by the end of lap one. 

Van Der Mark then took the lead from Scott Redding on lap three before pulling away by over three seconds. 

Race two in the dry was somewhat of a return to normality as Van Der Mark struggled to hold onto the podium battle, eventually finishing sixth. 

Speaking after a historic day for the team, Van Der Mark said: "Yeah, it was a pretty good day. Of course, this morning it was nice to get a win with the BMW M1000 RR. 

"It was a good race and I already felt good in the rain from this morning, and this carried through into the race, even when it started to dry, I still had a good feeling on the bike. I’m happy to take the win for BMW Motorrad and the whole team. 

"In race two I didn’t get a good start, but I felt I had a good pace. Unfortunately we had some issues which cost me a lot of time and then my race from there was a bit lonely as I couldn’t catch up to the guys in front. We have to learn, but at the end it was not a bad Sunday."

Van Der Mark’s win puts him in impressive company as only he and Marco Melandri have won races for both Yamaha and BMW.