BMW's van der Mark to make Assen WSBK return after injury

Van der Mark suffered a fracture on his leg after falling off a mountain bike during a training accident in March.

After receiving immediate medical treatment, the Dutchman had to undergo surgery on his leg, forcing him out of the final two pre-season tests of the year as well as the opening round at Aragon earlier this month.

While the 29-year-old isn’t fully fit after spending the last few weeks at home recovering from the injury, he is confident of getting the all-clear from doctors to take part in the trio of races at Assen on April 22-24.

“After the forced break of several weeks I feel ready to return at my home round in Assen. Of course it depends on the final medical check on Thursday but I am confident I can get back on my BMW M 1000 RR at the weekend,” said van der Mark.

“The healing process after the surgery went very well. I also had several treatments that additionally seem to have helped to speed up my recovery. I regularly trained in the gym, with an adjusted programme, and that enabled me to keep my fitness at a high level. 

“Of course, I am not expecting to ride at the top at Assen. I know that it will be a challenge, as I haven’t ridden my WorldSBK BMW M1000RR since the end of last year and I missed all the pre-season tests in spring time so I also don’t know all the developments made over winter and I first need to understand them before I can benefit from them. 

“In addition, I am feeling very well but am not back to 100 per cent fitness yet, so for me, the most important thing would be to be back in action without focusing on any results. Then we move forward step by step.”

Michael van der Mark, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team

Photo by: BMW AG

With van der Mark sidelined from injury in the early part of the year, his place at the factory BMW squad was taken by IDM champion Ilya Mikhalchik, who did a fine job to finish eighth on his debut at Aragon - before bagging another point for 15th in the final race of the weekend.

The other works BMW M1000RR was piloted by new recruit Scott Redding, who endured a torrid first weekend with the German manufacturer culminated by a retirement in the second full-distance race.

“Assen is a good track for me, a track that I had a lot of good results on in the past,” said Redding, who has been tasked with leading BMW’s works effort this year after two seasons at Ducati.

“It’s a track I really enjoy to ride. I love going to Holland, the atmosphere is always amazing with the fans there. I also lived there for a while, so I have some friends there and it feels very good for me to go to Assen. 

“I think it is maybe a circuit a little bit better for our bike, so I hope to work on better results than in Aragon and work from there. So I look forward to the weekend.”