Michael Van der Mark · Biography

Michael van der Mark’s first title came in 2012, when he won the European Superstock 600 Championship on a Honda CBR600RR. Born on 26 October 1992 in Gouda, in the Netherlands, the Dutch rider had already spent time in the 125cc World Championship, and from that continental crown he went on to build a career of more than a decade in the Superbike World Championship, riding for Honda, Yamaha and BMW, with several wins at the Suzuka 8 Hours along the way.

Early years

Van der Mark made his 125cc Grand Prix debut in 2008 on a Dutch Racing Team Honda and stayed in the class until 2010, when he rode an Aprilia for Team Sachsenring and also a Lambretta. He scored no points in those three seasons. His career changed direction once he moved to production-based machinery. In European Superstock 600 he finished 30th in 2010 and third in 2011 with 137 points, before taking the title in 2012. That same year he made his first appearances in the Supersport World Championship with Honda.

Supersport world champion in 2014

In 2013, his first full Supersport season, he finished fourth with 130 points. A year later, with the PATA Honda team, he became Supersport world champion in 2014 with 230 points. He left the intermediate class with 22 starts, six wins, 13 podiums and two pole positions. In September 2014 Honda confirmed his promotion to World Superbikes on a two-year deal with the same PATA outfit.

Honda and Yamaha in World Superbikes

As a rookie in 2015 he finished seventh with 194 points, and in 2016 he climbed to fourth with 267. In 2017 he swapped Honda for Yamaha, where he partnered Alex Lowes for four seasons. He was sixth in 2017 and produced his best year in 2018: on 26 May he won at Donington Park from sixth on the grid, his first World Superbike victory, the first by a Dutch rider in the premier class and Yamaha’s first since 2011. The next day he won again from ninth. He ended that season third with 333 points, then finished fourth in 2019 with 327 and fifth in 2020 with 221. That spell also brought his MotoGP debut in 2017 with Monster Yamaha Tech 3, replacing Jonas Folger: he was 16th in Malaysia and 17th in Valencia.

The Suzuka 8 Hours

Alongside the world championship, Van der Mark built a strong record at Japan’s endurance classic. With Honda’s MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO team he won the Suzuka 8 Hours in 2013 and 2014, both times with Leon Haslam and Takumi Takahashi. In 2015 and 2016, sharing the bike with Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden respectively, he failed to reach the finish. With the Yamaha Factory Racing Team he won again in 2017 and 2018 alongside Alex Lowes and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, and in 2019 the same trio finished second.

The BMW years

In 2021 he joined BMW’s factory World Superbike team. At Donington Park he took the first podiums for the new M 1000 RR, and on 3 October 2021 at Portimão he won the Superpole Race in the wet, giving BMW its first World Superbike race win in eight years. He ended the year sixth with 262 points. In March 2022 he broke his leg in a mountain-bike crash while training, missed the opening round at Aragón and returned at Assen before he was fully fit; he finished 15th. In 2023 he was 17th. In 2024 he was back up to sixth with 245 points, and in June of that year he renewed with BMW for 2025, a season he closed in 12th with 111 points.

Endurance and test duties

After giving up his full-time World Superbike seat at the end of 2025, he stayed with BMW as a rider for the factory endurance team and as a test rider for the Superbike squad. At the 2025 Suzuka 8 Hours he finished fifth with Markus Reiterberger and Steven Odendaal. In May 2026 he returned to the World Superbike grid at Aragón, alongside Hannes Soomer, as a replacement for the injured Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira.