Sykes and Van Der Mark shone during the British round, achieving excellent results in both practice and the race aboard the M1000RR. But can they remain competitive as the season goes on?
07.07.2021 ( Aggiornata il 07.07.2021 12:38 )
The British WorldSBK race weekend at the spectacular Donington Park track was interesting for a number of reasons. While, on the one hand, the title fight is now back on, thanks Razgatlioglu’s trumphant weekend as well as Rea’s crash, on the other hand BMW showed to be more competitive than ever in the tricky race conditions, both factory riders reaching the podium.
Aboard the German manufacturer’s new M1000RR, both Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark proved very fast over the flying lap (both qualifying on the front row) but also in terms of race pace, the pair reaching the podium in the Superpole Race, and the 2013 world champion on the third step of the rostrum in race 2.
A favourable track or real growth?
Although BMW can be very pleased with the weekend’s excellent results, it’s only right that they keep their feet on the ground. The Donington Park circuit is undoubtedly favourable for both Sykes and Van Der Mark, the two riders having won at the English circuit in the past, and so the German manufacturer should be under no illusions.
At the same time, this was the factory BMW team's best weekend since it returned to Superbike and it’s clear that the M1000RR represents a big step forward in terms of competitiveness compared to the “old” S1000RR. The strong Donington weekend shouldn’t be an end point though, but rather a base on which to build to consistently run at the front along with Kawasaki, Yamaha and Ducati.
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