BMW laments lost podium after footpeg issue in Suzuka 8 Hours

BMW was left to rue a missed opportunity of scoring a breakthrough podium at the Suzuka 8 Hours after a footpeg came loose and forced its factory bike into a crash.

The No. 37 BMW M1000R of Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal, and Michael van der Mark qualified a strong fifth on the grid for Sunday’s race, two spots behind the customer No. 76 Ube Racing entry of Naomichi Uramoto, Loris Baz, and Davey Todd.

While the factory crew initially lost ground, an early pitstop towards the end of the second hour thrust the team back into contention. Van der Mark stormed through the field to grab third position, overtaking the No. 73 Harc-Pro Honda of Teppei Nagoe and the No. 7 YART Yamaha of Jason O'Halloran in quick succession.

However, before van der Mark could chase down the race-leading No. 30 Honda and the second-placed No. 21 Yamaha, drama struck the BMW as a footpeg came loose and fell off the bike on the short dash to the final chicane.

Van der Mark immediately took action and headed towards the pit road, but the footpeg issue forced him into a crash, leaving him on the ground.

The Dutchman quickly remounted the bike and safely brought it to BMW’s garage, but the subsequent repairs dropped the No. 37 trio outside the top 20.

In the second half of the race, van der Mark, Reiterberger and Odendaal made massive strides to climb back up to fifth place, two laps down on the race-winning Honda.

While van der Mark was proud of the way the No. 37 crew had recovered from the mid-race setback to finish inside the top-five, it wasn’t lost on him that BMW had lost a chance to become the first non-European manufacturer to finish on the podium in the Suzuka 8 Hours.

“I had a very good race week here with the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team,” said the World Superbike star, who was “slightly hurt” in the crash.

“We tried as much as we could and I think especially at the beginning of the race we had a podium pace. 

“We were in P3 but a bit unlucky with a technical failure and then a crash where we lost a lot of time. 

“But the team showed proper endurance spirit, they repaired the bike, Steven and Markus were fast, the whole team did fantastic pit stops. And then I just did my thing. 

“It was painful, it was tough, but I think we should be happy with P5 here at Suzuka after the crash and after we lost a lot of time.”

Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport Sven Blusch echoed van der Mark’s statement, saying it was “unlucky” the team missed out on a podium because of a technical issue.

However, he was satisfied with the performance of all BMW teams, including the Ube Racing entry that finished just one position behind the factory bike in sixth.

“We did a great job this week, and were only unlucky in the race due to a technical defect, which was no one’s fault,” he said.

“Without that, we would certainly have made it to the podium. But overall, the team delivered a fantastic performance. All three riders proved their abilities. We’re especially pleased that Mickey, a four-time Suzuka winner, did an outstanding job and showcased his full talent. 

“Also, the AutoRace Ube Racing Team – a Japanese outfit making their debut with BMW here – did an incredible job. Local hero Naomichi Uramoto almost took pole position. 

“We’re very proud to have them on board and will continue to work closely together in the future. I believe this is the beginning of a very strong partnership.”