Has 2017 been a record breaking year in WorldSBK?
Take a look at some statistics from the 2017 season
Fans have been treated to some stunning racing action in 2017 and in it had been five years since we have seen so many race leaders. 2017 has seen ten different race leaders in the first nine rounds of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship: Rea, Sykes, Davies, Melandri, van der Mark, Fores, Torres, Lowes, Laverty and Mercado.
Comparing fastest laps season on season, 2017’s average fastest lap has improved by 0.108s around all circuits visited so far.
Five of the seven manufacturers who participate in the WorldSBK championship have led a race this season: Kawasaki, Ducati, Yamaha, Aprilia and BMW.
It’s not only the rider’s title which is going through a tough battle; the fight for the manufacturers’ title is more than alive. There are only 56 points between Kawasaki and Ducati. This is the smallest gap in this title fight seen since 2014, at this point of the season.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) has now covered 18,285km, putting him in the top 10 of riders to have covered the most kilometres in the World Superbike Championship. Troy Corser is the rider with the most kilometres covered, at 33,479, whilst the only other current rider who is close to Rea’s total is Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) – with 19,891 kilometers – and this puts him in fifth position overall. As well as this, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) have reached 10,000kms in WorldSBK.
Jonathan Rea has qualified in the top 10 grid positions over the last 75 rounds.
Marco Melandri has been the fastest rider so far in 2017. In Aragon’s Race Two, he got his Panigale up to 325km/h.
There is only one rider on the grid to have finished every race so far this season, Tom Sykes. If he manages to finish the remaining eight races he will equal Sylvain Guintoli’s record which he secured in 2014, the season he was also crowned world champion.
Tom Sykes is just one pole position away from equalling Troy Corser’s record of the most WorldSBK pole positions, which could be broken in 2017. The Brit has secured the last four pole positions, meaning he could also beat Ben Spies’ record of seven consecutive poles in 2009.
Despite only leading 31 laps this season, Tom Sykes is ahead of Chaz Davies in the overall world championship standings, even though the Welshman has led 123 laps in races so far.
Keep up with all the WorldSBK racing action with the WorldSBK VideoPass, and see what other records will be made throughout the final four rounds of the season.
