10 facts to get you ready for Sunday’s Race 2 at Imola
Here are some of the reasons you can’t miss the race around the winding Italian circuit on Sunday
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is on the verge of history after his Race 1 win: He has now won 58 times in WorldSBK. On Sunday he’ll have his first chance at equalling the all-time record held by Carl Fogarty since the 1999 Hockenheim weekend.
2. His next win could a record one for another reason: Rea has now led a race from lights to flag 19 times, the same record as his teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). They both share the all-time WorldSBK record in this sense. It’s also the fourth time Rea has done this at Imola, following both 2014 races and 2015 Race 2.
3. Finally for Rea, a second win tomorrow would be his 17th double, breaking the tie he currently shares with Carl Fogarty and Troy Bayliss and giving him the all-time record.
4. A double here would also continue the Imola Doubles tradition: in the last 6 weekends here, Race 1 winners have gone on to repeat their feat in Race 2.
5. Tom Sykes joined a select group at Imola on Saturday: he is only the fifth rider to pass the 3000 points mark (3012,5). If he finishes 8th or above on Sunday, he’ll move ahead of Carl Fogarty (3020), with just Rea (3365,5), Noriyuki Haga (3691) and Troy Corser (4021,5) ahead of him.
6. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) might not have had things go his way completely on Saturday, but he’ll find some consolation in the fact that he has won at Imola every race he has started from pole (2016 R1 and R2, 2017 R1).
7. Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) pleased the home crowd on Saturday with a third place, his 66th on the WorldSBK tracks. On Sunday, he’ll have the chance to be the first Italian rider since Michael Fabrizio in 2009 to score two Imola podium finishes in one weekend.
8. For Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) the season so far has been impressive: should he record a top-5 finish on Sunday, that will be his 9th of 2018, the same number he recorded in the entire 2017 season.
9. Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) may not have had his best race on Saturday, but he did score points, something he has done in all his nine races at Imola (a personal record). Will he make it ten out of ten?
10. Race 1 was Lorenzo Savadori’s (Milwaukee Aprilia) best performance of the season, finishing 8th. On Sunday he will have his best grid position of the season, in Race 2: fifth.
Catch all of the weekend’s action thanks to the WorldSBK VideoPass.
