Michael van der Mark gets “lucky” with Jerez World Superbike Race 2 red flag

Michael van der Mark secured a third-place finish in WorldSBK Race 2 at this weekend’s Spanish Round to end his 2024 season on the podium.

For van der Mark, the result was proof of the progression he and BMW have made together throughout the year.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend, or season, honestly because we were growing and growing,” van der Mark told Eurosport after Race 2 in Jerez.

Van der Mark explained that his progressive 2024 season had been in part thanks to how he has worked with his BMW teammate, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who clinched the WorldSBK title in Saturday’s Race 1 at Jerez.

“Toprak [Razgatlioglu] did an amazing season, he’s the one and only World Champion,” van der Mark said.

“I was learning so much from him this year, working together, the whole team working together.

“It took a while, but it paid off at the end of the year. It’s fantastic to finish the season on the podium.”

Van der Mark was embroiled in a battle for much of the race with Andrea Iannone for third.

The two made contact when Iannone tried to pass van der Mark the final corner. Van der Mark continued in third, but Iannone dropped to sixth, before mounting a comeback to fourth place.

The Italian was closing on van der Mark again when the race was stopped early after Philipp Oettl’s GMT94 Yamaha suffered a terminal failure four laps from the end.

Van der Mark was honest enough to admit that, without the red flag, he might have ended up coming up short of the podium.

“I was trying really hard, and I’m not sure — if I have to do the last couple of laps — if I was strong enough to defend [against] Andrea [Iannone],” the Dutchman said.

“Sometimes you’re a bit lucky with a red flag, and it’s been a tough couple of weeks but to finish the season like this is fantastic.”