BMW expects 2022 WorldSBK wins; 'need to do it pretty quick' - Muir

Despite a first win in eight years and the first as a full factory team since their return in 2019, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team Principal, Shaun Muir, says fighting for consistent wins in the dry must happen ‘pretty quick’.

Robert Jones

30 Dec 2021

Michael van der Mark, Portuguese WorldSBK Super pole race, 3 October 2021
© Gold and Goose

Although Michael Van Der Mark took BMW’s first WorldSBK win in eight years during the 2021 season, Shaun Muir wants to see similar results on a much more consistent basis in 2022.

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team will have Scott Redding alongside Van Der Mark next season after the Brit joined the German manufacturer from Ducati, a move that should help with challenging for wins on a regular basis.

However, Redding and Van Der Mark will both need a better package to do so, especially when it comes to dry-weather races.

Van Der Mark’s win came during a wet Superpole race at Portimao, and is one that would have been unlikely had Jonathan Rea not crashed from the lead.

Whereas in the dry, both Van Der Mark and the departed Tom Sykes had just nine top five finishes between them.

"We would like to be a bit closer to the podium on a more regular basis, I think it's quite obvious that we've got fantastic pace in wet conditions, we've proven that now and we took our first win in the World Superbike championship this year," said Team Principal Shaun Muir when talking to the official World Superbike website.

"We need to replicate that in the dry conditions and that's something that we will put right and we're going to come strong next year in that department.

"It was a great time for that to happen and it was something we want to repeat pretty quickly."

With BMW having one of the strongest rider pairings next season and a bike that although slowly, has improved year after year, fighting for podiums if not wins should begin to take place as Muir highlighted.

In fact, both Redding and Van Der Mark are expecting that to take place from round one.

Muir added: "We're going to 2022 with race winners and when you're signing riders of that level, you're expecting to be winning from the first race.

"So, that's my only statement I can make on what our expectations are next year. If I'm speaking on behalf of Michael and Scott, they're expecting to be fighting for the podium in the very first race.

"Our test program, our development program and the commitment from everyone in the team and within BMW is proven that we have to start winning races and we need to do it pretty quick."