Munich. At the upcoming round of the FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) at Spain’s MotorLand Aragón, the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team will field BMW Motorrad factory riders Michael van der Mark and Hannes Soomer. They will replace the team’s regular riders, Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci, both of whom are unable to compete next weekend due to injury. Oliveira suffered several injuries, including shoulder injuries, during the races in Hungary at the beginning of May. Petrucci crashed heavily in the opening main race at Most in mid-May and sustained, among other injuries, a fractured coccyx.
“Of course, it is an extremely unfortunate situation for us that both regular riders of the team are sidelined through injury,” said Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport. “At the same time, we are fortunate to be able to rely quickly and easily on strong replacement riders from within our BMW Motorrad factory rider family. Mickey already supported us very well at Most. On the other side of the garage, Hannes will now step in for Danilo. Hannes, who is also part of our endurance racing line-up, knows the BMW M 1000 RR extremely well. In addition, both riders completed the WorldSBK test at Misano for us last week. That means we are well prepared. However, the main focus right now is the recovery of Miguel and Danilo. We are in close contact with both riders. Miguel is making great progress, and his recovery process is developing exactly as expected. Danilo’s diagnosis is more recent, but he is also working intensively on his comeback. At this point, it is still unclear when we will see both riders back in action. There is no time pressure; the important thing is that nothing is rushed and that both riders are fully fit when they return to their BMW M 1000 RR machines. They have our full support throughout their recovery journey. Get well soon, Miguel and Danilo, and thank you to Mickey and Hannes for stepping in as replacement riders!”
Van der Mark, who was part of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team from 2021 to 2025 and now serves as a rider for the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team as well as a test rider for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Test Team, already delivered solid performances during his comeback at Most.
Soomer has been a BMW Motorrad factory rider in the FIM Endurance World Championship (FIM EWC) since 2024. This season, he is a regular rider for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport Official Team Japan, the AutoRace Ube Racing Team. In addition, he competes aboard the BMW M 1000 RR in the Superbike class of the EuroMoto championship (formerly IDM). The WorldSBK paddock is no unfamiliar territory for Soomer: from 2015 to 2022, the Estonian competed in the FIM Supersport World Championship, and in 2023 he made his first appearances in WorldSBK.
“Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Miguel and Danilo! As replacement riders, Hannes and I will do our best to support the team as much as possible,” said van der Mark. “I settled back into everything quite quickly at Most. At MotorLand Aragón, I want to build on this and continue helping the team work on the BMW M 1000 RR so that everything is optimally prepared for the comebacks of Miguel and Danilo. Results are not the main focus, but of course I still have the ambition to move further forward again and score as many points as possible for BMW.”
“It is a somewhat unexpected return to WorldSBK for me, and I really wish it were under different circumstances,” added Soomer. “Therefore, first and foremost, I want to wish Miguel and Danilo all the best! Naturally, everyone knows each other within the BMW family, but during the Misano test I already had the opportunity to get more familiar with the team and the World Superbike. My priority at MotorLand Aragón is to put myself fully at the service of the team and BMW Motorrad Motorsport. I know it may be a challenging task, but I will work hard and give it my all.”
The coming weeks will be intense for both van der Mark and Soomer, as they head directly from MotorLand Aragón to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. There, they will compete with their respective teams in the second round of the 2026 FIM EWC season on the following weekend (5th/6th June).