WorldSBK: Van Der Mark forced to miss the Aragón round

For the first time in his career, Michael Van Der Mark will be forced to miss the opening round of the Superbike World Championship. The Dutchman has made the difficult decision in order to focus on making a full recovery ahead of round two, his home race, taking place at Assen on 23-24 April.

The BMW team has confirmed this in an official note on its social media channels, also revealing that Ukranian rider Ilya Mykhalchik will join Redding in the garage for this weekend’s Aragón round before flying to Le Mans for the Endurance World Championship season-opener. Mykhalchik already stood in for Van Der Mark during the Barcelona tests and is now participating in the official tests at Aragón.

The BMW team’s press note

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team has published this note on its social media channels: “Injured Michael van der Mark has taken the decision to not participate in the 2022 season opener of WorldSBK at MotorLand Aragón this coming weekend. The works rider for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team had surgery last week on the leg fracture he suffered in a training accident with his mountain bike and now focuses on his full recovery. BMW Motorrad works rider Ilya Mikhalchik already stood in for van der Mark at the recent Barcelona test and will do again at the final tests and also the season opener”.

Van Der Mark’s words

The Dutchman had this to say: “It has been a difficult decision but unfortunately I will not try to ride at MotorLand Aragón. At this moment we have to be smart and stay calm because this is the only way forward in my recovery. I really miss working with the team and riding my BMW M 1000 RR but right now my goal is to be fit again as soon as possible.”

Translated by Heather Watson

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