Van Der Mark: “Toprak is the rider with the most talent in the whole field”
The Dutch rider is the most experienced rider at BMW, while Razgatlioglu is the least as 2024 will be his first season aboard the M 1000 RR.
Scott Redding has been with the German manufacturer for several seasons, while Garrett Gerloff rode for Bonovo Action BMW last season, which he will do again alongside Redding in 2024.
- Redding and Gerloff ready to make a statement with BMW in 2024
- Razgatlioglu: Jerez test ‘very important’, BMW ‘are not far’
But for Van Der Mark, being the most experienced won’t help if he suffers the same injury woes as last season.
Fully recovered and raring to go ahead of next week’s Jerez test, Van Der Mark told WorldSBK.com: “I’m fully fit again, I’m ready to race. I think we all have one goal in BMW, and that’s to win.
“So, I’m trying really hard, and BMW is pushing really hard. I have a lot of confidence in the project.
“Signing Toprak, changing a lot of things inside… I have a lot of confidence we’ll get there.”
Going into more detail about the addition of Razgatlioglu, Van Der Mark said the German manufacturer has signed the best talent in the championship.
“Honestly, I think Toprak is the rider with the most talent in the whole field,” said the Dutchman. “His style is different from everyone else. He’s really strong on the brakes, so that’s something we can learn a lot from.
“And he’s a fast rider, you can always learn from a fast rider. I think everyone’s really motivated that he wanted to join this project.”
Different for 2024 is BMW’s brand new test team of Bradley Smith and 2014 WorldSBK champion Sylvain Guintoli.
Those signings came after Razgatlioglu was signed and Van Der Mark has clearly seen a more urgent approach from the German brand
Van Der Mark began by saying: “I don’t feel pressure. I love to see that they’re putting a lot of effort in, more and more. It gives me more confidence.
“The confidence from seeing them pushing that hard, I think it will make me faster as well.”
