The 2025 World SBK season round was in stark contrast to Michael van der Mark and BMW openers as the Dutch riders scored three top-10 finishes.
In Australia, Van der Mark only collected two points after crashing in Race 1, missed points in the Super Pole race, finishing 14th in Race 2.
However, the Portuguese round was far better, finishing sixth in race 1 despite having “struggles,” followed by seventh in the Super Pole race and fifth in race 2.
As a result, van dermark was able to keep Portimao in a positive mood, especially given how his weekend went.
“I think it was a pretty good weekend in the end,” van der Mark told worldsbk.com after race two at Portimao.
“We took some good steps during the test (on Saturday) as I had a lot of struggles in the race, so I wasn’t happy with the results. But today we found some extra speed.
Along with Yamaha’s Andrea Rocatelli, Van del Mark had been walking a bit with third place Alvaro Bautista before being thrown into Race 8 in Race 2.
Locatelli said he felt the red flag had sacrificed a chance to take the podium. Because after the red flag he changed his tires and felt vibrations in the reopened race.
Meanwhile, van der Mark was not sure he had lost a potential podium.
“It’s hard to say because we had a strong pace at the time, but it was still a pretty long race so I didn’t know what to expect,” he said.
“But I was happy to have had a good reboot and escaped trouble.
“I tried as much as I could to compete for the podium, but it was good that we had a good pace and we made a big gap in the people behind me, even if I was on my own.”
Things got a little more between the Panigal and the rest of Portugal bikes after Ducati ruled the Australian round in February.
However, due to the different layout characteristics of Falip Island and Portimao, Van dermark was wary of swings in performance differences. Assen said three rounds of this year’s World Superbike Championship will take place between April 11th and 13th.
“To be honest, Portimao and Philip Island are completely different trucks, and this truck has a lot of hard brakes and slow corners, which is now suitable for us,” he said.
“Assen is a combination of both, so I think you can see the actual level.”