De Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com
The 2020 rider market is starting to move: The 26-year-old Dutchman is negotiating with Kawasaki. Will he be Jonathan Rea's new partner?
Michael van der Mark, 26, could leave Yamaha for Kawasaki in 2020, alongside Jonathan Rea. The Dutchman tops the list of many candidates. Guim Roda, Team Principal of the team, a few hours before the first Superbike tests at Laguna Seca, kicked in with a laugh. “All free Moto3, Moto2, MotoGP, Superbike and Supersport riders are possibilities.” Contact with Michael van der Mark is very advanced and would block the road to Tito Rabat, former Moto2 world champion who has already received his freedom from the Avintia MotoGP team. VDM, Supersport world champion in 2014, is participating in his fifth season in the top category: Two with Honda, the last three with Yamaha. With the same brand, Magic Michael won two victories at the Suzuka 8 Hours, in 2017 and 2018.
TOPRAK STAY WITH PUCCETTI
Kawasaki will field three complete factory bikes in the 2020 World Championship. In addition to the two bikes managed by Provec (Spanish branch of the racing department), there will be another for Toprak Razgatlioglu which will remain under the direction of Manuel Puccetti. Already today the Italian team receives full technical support from Akashi, except for the engine which is prepared in Italy. In 2020, the package will be complete. Keeping Toprak in a different team from the internal team meets different needs: Firstly the conflict between energy drinks (the driver is Red Bull, the internal team is Monster). Furthermore, Kenan Sofuoglu, mentor and manager of Toprak, believes that cohabitation with Jonathan Rea should be avoided. The Northern Irishman is a “teammate eater”, Tom Sykes knows a thing or two about that….
RETURN TO THE PAST
The potential Van der Mark-Kawasaki combination was already the subject of much discussion last summer, and then Akashi's brand turned its attention to British Championship-promoted Leon Haslam. At Yamaha, in place of van der Mark could be placed Sandro Cortese, and the German would then leave GRT Yamaha.
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???????? @mickeyvdmark and his @PataYamahaWSBK crew checking out the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca on the track walk. “How steep is it?” “It’s very steep Michael!”#YamahaRacing | #WeR1 | #USAWorldSBK pic.twitter.com/8MeLHDC77X
—Yamaha Racing (@yamaharacingcom) July 12, 2019
