News

1^st in the championship – Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) recorded in Race 1 his 104th podium, and now he is only 5 shy of becoming the most successful British rider in WorldSBK history: Carl Fogarty (109). For the fourth consecutive time he has qualified in second: it’s only the second time in the history of the Championship with such a sequence, the other was recorded by Frankie Chili in 2003, when the Italian qualified in second in Phillip Island, Sugo, Monza and Oschersleben. Rea’s sequence has the unique characteristic that he was second in qualifying 4 straight times behind his team-mate. He will line up in Race 2 for his 210th start, his 70th for Kawasaki. Scored 2986.5 points in his career: with a 3rd place in Race 2 he will become the 4th rider in history with at least 3000 points scored. The top-3 is: Troy Corser (4021.5), Noriyuki Haga (3691) and Carl Fogarty (3020).

2^nd in the championship – Tom Sykes

In Race 1 Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)  equalled his best string of races on the podium, 8: he has recorded such a string one other time, from Aragon 2013/2 to Algarve 2013/1. 42nd career pole for Tom Sykes, now only one shy of the all-time record of Troy Corser. This was Sykes’ first pole at the Lausitzring: he has now recorded pole position on 16 different tracks. Buriram is the only track on the current calendar where he has not started from pole yet. 36 straight races in the points: Sykes is running the third all-time sequence, and needs 3 more races in the points to clinch the second one (Max Biaggi, 39: Brno 2009/1-Donington 2011/1).  For the fourth consecutive time, Kawasaki locked the first two places in qualifying, the second-longest string in history. Ducati in 1992 managed to qualify 1-2 (or more) in five successive weekends: Spa, Jarama, Zeltweg, Mugello and Johor. That all-time record string was broken in Sugo, when Kevin Magee (Yamaha) qualified in second behind Doug Polen (Ducati).

3^rd in the championship – Chaz Davies

25th career win for Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in Race 1. The Brit racked up also two round numbers, this was his 60th podium finish (*), the 50th for Ducati. Davies is the 5th rider with at least 50 podiums for Ducati: Fogarty leads at 100, then Troy Bayliss (94), Troy Corser (60) and Raymond Roche (57). Needs one win to equal Carlos Checa, which won 22 races for Ducati. Carl Fogarty tops the list for the Italian manufacturer, with 55 wins, scored with three different bike models: 888, 916 and 996.

(*) This milestone was achieved in this track previously by Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga in the 2006 weekend.

4^th in the championship – Marco Melandri

Like in the first Laguna Seca race, Marco Melandri was 4th on the grid, in the race and in the fastest laps ranking. Melandri has finished fourth in the last three races: in WorldSBK history there is only one occurrence of a rider with four consecutive 4th places. That was Regis Laconi, just off the podium in fourth in 2003 from Monza/2 to Silverstone/1.

5^th in the championship – Alex Lowes

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) will line up on the front row for the fourth time this year, the first since the second Aragon race, back in April.

8^th in the championship – Leon Camier

In Race 1 Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) equalled his best result this season, a fifth he had scored on the opening Race of the year in Phillip Island.

13^th in the championship – Lorenzo Savadori

In qualifying, Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) recorded his second front row this season after he was equally third in Assen.