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10 facts you need to know ahead of Sunday at the Acerbis French Round

Saturday, 29 September 2018 16:25 GMT

Race two is set to provide some thrills

  1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured the world title at the same track two years in a row, the last time this happened was when Fred Merkel was crowned champion in 1988 and 1988 in Manfeild, New Zealand.
  2. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) extended his string of points finishes to 19 in Race One, which began back in Buriram in March. In his career he has only recorded one sequence longer than 20: he went for 28 straight points finishes from Donington Race 1 in 2015 to Sepang Race 2 in 2016, always finishing in the top 10.
  3. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) is set for his 100th WorldSBK race on Sunday.
  4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) recorded his 47th pole on Saturday, his sixth season with at least five pole positions. No other rider in WorldSBK history has scored five pole positions for more than three seasons.
  5. Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) will start from the front row on Sunday, and he will have another chance to equal Max Biaggi as the Italian rider with the most podiums in WorldSBK history: 71.
  6. In Race 1 Sykes equalled the record of Magny-Cours podiums for one rider: 10, held by Noriyuki Haga since 2009.
  7. Rea is currently on his best winning streak, winning seven races in a row. This is just two short of the all-time record strings from Colin Edwards (2002) and Neil Hodgson (2003) and one shy of the second all-time string of Bayliss (2006).
  8. Sykes extended the British domination of poles in Magny Cours: this is the 9th straight year with a Brit on pole on Saturday in France.
  9. Rea’s win tally this year has reached 13: with five races to go he is in the position to equal his personal best (16 last year) and also the all-time season landmark of 17, set by Doug Polen in 1991.
  10. Rea equalled Troy Bayliss' number of wins for a single manufacturer: Rea has now won 52 times for Kawasaki, the same number of wins Bayliss secured for Ducati. Now only Carl Fogarty remains as the rider with most wins for one manufacturer: 55 for Ducati. On Sunday, Rea will start his 100th race for Kawasaki.

Follow all of Sunday’s action from the Acerbis French Round, all with the WorldSBK VideoPass.