ROKiT BMW rider Michael van der Mark outlined his “dream” result at the Dutch WorldSBK round.
The Dutchman heads into his home weekend tenth in the championship standings after mixed results at the opening two rounds in Phillip Island and Portimao.
Van der Mark could only muster one point at the season opener down under but bounced back to deliver three top-seven results around the Algarve.
The 32-year-old has had plenty of success around the TT circuit back in his Honda and Yamaha days, claiming seven podiums with both Japanese marques.
The Gouda-born rider has yet to feature on the rostrum at his home race since joining BMW in 2021, but he admitted his package has strong solid foundations to fight for the podium.
“It’s always nice to have your home round and I love being here at Assen,” Van der Mark shared on Thursday.
“It’s a track I really enjoy riding, especially with how things went in the last round at Portimao, really looking forward to it.
“I think we could be quite strong. The best thing for us was we had a good test at Portimao.
“We had many ideas after Australia, and we needed to find something.
“At Portimao, we had the package ready, and we had something where we feel comfortable; it’s not the best yet but at least we have something we can be very consistent with.
“I really want to be on the podium here. As we’ve seen before, the field is very competitive and close, so we have to work on details.
“I think we can be quite strong, and my dream is to be on the podium.”
Friday practice is about finding a ‘good base’
Van der Mark heaped praise on the Pirelli tyre compound brought in for this weekend but stressed the importance of finding a “good base” on the bike’s setup.
“Pirelli bringing a new compound is always good because we know when they bring tyres they work even better. [I’m] really happy for that,” he said on Thursday.
“You always have to find the right time for it but I think the most important thing is to do everything in Free Practice 2.
“To find a good base in FP1 and FP2 which is more race time. We have to be ready so we can test some other stuff.”
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