WorldSBK at Most: Michael van der Mark back in the saddle of the BMW M 1000 RR.

Munich. The last race weekend of the 2023 FIM Superbike World
Championship (WorldSBK) before the summer break is scheduled for the
upcoming weekend for BMW Motorrad Motorsport. The eighth round of
the season will take place from 28th to 30th September at Most,
Czech Republic. Michael van der Mark (NED) will be back in the
saddle of his BMW M 1000 RR after his injury hiatus.

BMW Motorrad Motorsport arrives with fond memories of the racetrack
in the north of the Czech Republic. Last year, Scott Redding (GBR)
secured the third-place podium finish in the first main race. The BMW
M 1000 RR’s potential on the track was also evident in the FIM
Endurance World Championship (FIM EWC) as Most was the venue for the
BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team’s first victory in 2021.

Therefore, the goal of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and the
Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, as well as the four BMW Motorrad
factory riders Redding, van der Mark, Garrett Gerloff (USA), and Loris
Baz (FRA), is to bid farewell to the summer break with strong results
at Most.

Quotes ahead of the Most round.

Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director:
“First of all, welcome back, Mickey! It’s great to have
Mickey back on board after his long injury break. However, we don’t
want to have too high expectations for him. The important thing is for
him to get back into his racing rhythm on the BMW M 1000 RR before he
launches a full attack after the summer break. Most is a track that
has suited us well in the past. Combining this fact with the positive
impressions we have gathered in the recent races, defines our goal for
the weekend. Before the summer break, we aim to achieve strong results
with our entire squad. The foundation for this needs to be laid in the
qualifying, just like Scott and Loris did at Imola, and as Garrett
would have done if he hadn’t had bad luck with yellow flags during
Superpole. We approach the upcoming weekend with confidence!”

Michael van der Mark, #60 BMW M 1000 RR, ROKiT BMW Motorrad
WorldSBK Team: “I am really happy to be back again. It has
been a long time and I am looking forward to this race. It won’t be
easy as I missed a lot of races so for sure the speed won’t be there
from the start, but I’m looking forward to being back on the bike and
to be back working with the boys, and to at least have a race under my
belt before the summer break. Now, I am feeling 100 per cent fit again
so I can’t wait to be back out and to enjoy this weekend before the break.”

Garrett Gerloff, #31 BMW M 1000 RR, Bonovo action BMW Racing
Team: “I’m really looking forward to go to Most again. It’s
a track that I definitely enjoy and another circuit where BMW did well
last year so I would love to go there and have a great weekend. It’s a
fun layout. We’ll have different challenges this weekend though, with
for example the tyre choices that we have. But I’m definitely looking
forward to it. That should be fun!”

Scott Redding, #45 BMW M 1000 RR, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team: “For me, Most is a good track. I like going there.
Last year, we had a good result there with BMW. I look forward to
going there. It’s a different kind of circuit to what we are used to.
And hopefully we can try to get ourselves back inside the top five,
top six. That would be the goal and keep working on the project and
get as close as we can.”

Loris Baz, #76 BMW M 1000 RR, Bonovo action BMW Racing Team:
“I’m excited to go to Most. It is the first time this year
that I am heading into a race weekend coming from a good race. I
really hope that we left all the bad luck behind us now. Imola was
great. The guys did a good job to find a better base set-up that suits
me. It’s not easy to find that when you don’t ride a lot and don’t
test, but with the injury it was tough. I’m really looking forward to
Most. Last year the BMW was really fast there. I wasn’t, but Scott
was, so I think we have potential there. I’m really looking forward to
seeing if the base we found at Imola will be good here as well. The
target is to work a lot from FP1 and we showed at Imola that this is
what you need to do. I’m excited for the last WorldSBK round before
the break, which we start with IDM at Spielberg. That will be cool,
I’m really looking forward to it.”