Breaking news
World Superbike
Sykes to stay with BMW in 2021 World Superbike season
BMW has announced it will continue with 2013 World Superbike champion Tom Sykes for the 2021 season.
Lewis Duncan
Published: Aug 26, 2020, 2:38 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sykes joined BMW for its factory WSBK return last season following his departure from Kawasaki and tallied up four podiums on the all-new S1000RR on his way to eighth in the standings.
The Briton’s future at the team was thrown into some doubt when BMW announced it has secured the services of Michael van der Mark, who will quit Yamaha at the end of the current campaign.
In a so-far difficult campaign for both BMW riders, Sykes has had the edge over teammate Eugene Laverty, outscoring him by 31 points across the four rounds held in 2020 – with Sykes managing a pole at Phillip Island and a best of sixth on three occasions.
Ahead of this weekend’s Aragon round, BMW has decided to partner 34-time race winner Sykes with van der Mark for 2021, citing continuity as a main factor in his renewal.
“Tom has been part of our WorldSBK Team from the very start and is an important pillar of this project”, said Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director.
“We are pleased to be able to continue along the common path in 2021, which we embarked upon with the first tests back in December 2018.
“This gives us continuity, which is very important for the successful development of a project.
“We have already achieved a lot together, and the goal is now to definitively close the gap to the front-runners.
“Tom’s extensive knowledge of the BMW S 1000 RR and his input will play a key role in achieving this.”
It is unclear at this stage where 13-time WSBK race winner and ex-MotoGP rider Laverty will end up in 2021.
BMW is the second team to firm up its full 2021 line-up, after Kawasaki re-signed world champion Jonathan Rea on a multi-year deal – which the team says will be for at least two seasons – and renewed Alex Lowes’ contract ahead of racing resuming at Jerez last month.
Rea currently leads the standings from Ducati’s Scott Redding by four points after a clean sweep of wins at the Algarve in Portugal.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ex-MotoGP racer Folger to make Barcelona WSBK debut
Next article Aragon WSBK: Davies tops Friday practice, Lowes crashes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lewis Duncan
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP 2025: Full rider line-up revealed
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
A year on from Marquez’s Germany MotoGP meltdown, has Honda improved?
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
MotoGP
MotoGP
German GP
What’s behind MotoGP’s right-hander chaos in Germany practice?
More from
Tom Sykes
Ex-MotoGP rider Rabat replaces Sykes at Puccetti Kawasaki WSBK team
World Superbike
World Superbike
Ex-MotoGP rider Rabat replaces Sykes at Puccetti Kawasaki WSBK team
Sykes departs Puccetti, returns to BMW as injury stand-in
World Superbike
World Superbike
Sykes departs Puccetti, returns to BMW as injury stand-in
Sykes secures 2023 WSBK return with Puccetti Kawasaki
World Superbike
World Superbike
Sykes secures 2023 WSBK return with Puccetti Kawasaki
More from
BMW Motorrad Motorsport
BMW "not far behind" WSBK rivals as Razgatlioglu targets 2025 title
World Superbike
World Superbike
BMW Motorrad launch
BMW "not far behind" WSBK rivals as Razgatlioglu targets 2025 title
Why Redding could be set for BMW reprieve after all
World Superbike
World Superbike
Why Redding could be set for BMW reprieve after all
Van der Mark adamant BMW seat not under threat from Razgatlioglu
World Superbike
World Superbike
Van der Mark adamant BMW seat not under threat from Razgatlioglu
Latest news
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
5 min
Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
30 min
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
31 min
Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
57 min
LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe