Michael Van Der Mark

Aside from a handful of appearances in the 125cc world championship (now officially named Moto3) and one Moto2 wildcard at Assen in 2011, Michael Van Der Mark’s first full-season in a world championship came in 2013 when he joined Honda in the WorldSSP class. 

The Dutch rider immediately showed potential by claiming podiums in his first two races (Phillip Island and Aragon), before taking a third and final rostrum for that season in Turkey. With just one year of world championship racing under his belt, Van Der Mark kicked on in 2014 as he claimed a total of six wins from 11 races which was good enough for the title. 

Apart from a DNF at the season opener in Australia, Van Der Mark finished every race of that season inside the top two before getting promoted to WorldSBK in 2015. Still with Honda, Van Der Mark took just seven races to step on the podium as he completed a double third place finish at his home round in Assen. 

Van Der Mark would take one more podium that year (Jerez) as signs of a potential race winner were there for all to see. The Dutchman finished his rookie year in seventh place. 

As was the case during his spell in Supersport, Van Der Mark’s second season got underway with a stunning run of results as he produced three podiums from the opening four races. Aside from two DNF’s Van Der Mark finished every race inside the top ten except for the season finale at Qatar (11). 

After four years at Honda - two in both classes - Van Der Mark then switched to Pata Yamaha where he would line-up alongside Alex Lowes. Although he managed less podiums in his first season with Yamaha than that of his last with Honda, 2018 was the breakthrough season for the now 29 year-old as he completed a double victory at Donington Park. 

That same 2018 season saw him claim his first top three championship position thanks to the above mentioned two wins and also single-season bests in terms of rostrum and top ten results. What turned out to be his penultimate year with the team in 2019, Van Der Mark had another solid year as he claimed fourth in the championship and a third career win. 

In 2020 Van Der Mark was joined by 2021 WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu who managed to finish just ahead of Van Der Mark despite missing an entire round (Catalunya) due to COVID-19. While a strong year for Van Der Mark - took win #4 of his Superbike career and another seven podiums, a switch to BMW aboard the new M 1000 RR was agreed for 2021.

Despite being on a new and underdeveloped package compared to the more experienced Yamaha, Ducati and Kawasaki teams, Van Der Mark secured the German manufacturer’s first WorldSBK win in eight years at Portimao, while he also took his BMW to sixth in the championship which was a very impressive result. 

For the 2022 season Van Der Mark will form one of the strongest teams throughout the grid as Scott Redding joins him at BMW.