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Phillip Island Sunday Stats Pack

Saturday, 23 February 2019 09:05 GMT

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship roars back into life in Australia, and records will – and do – get broken!

Ever wondered how many front rows Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) has achieved? Or the last time a Spanish rider led the WorldSBK championship? Here at World Superbike, we have all the trivia and knowledge to have your questions answered! See below for 10 of the best stats for Sunday at the Yamaha Finance Australian Round!

  • The last Spanish rider in the lead of the Championship had been Carlos Checa, in 2012, after the first Monza Race.
  • Bautista has recorded the largest gap between winner and runner-up on a dry race in Phillip Island history: 14.983 seconds. There are three instances where the gap was bigger, but all on wet/damp races.
  • Davies is under the radar for a comeback in Race 2, as since 2015 he has climbed on the podium at least once in every weekend he raced in Phillip Island.
  • Jonathan Rea’s Tissot Superpole lap time - 1’29.413 - is the new record for the Australian track.
  • In qualifying, Leon Haslam recorded his 24th front row, equalling Akira Yanagawa at the 23rd all-time spot.
  • Melandri took back a Yamaha on the Phillip Island podium for the first time since 2011, when he was third in Race 2.
  • Will history be repeated? In all the 31 seasons run so far, the eventual champion always finished the opening race in the first 5 places, making Van der Mark’s 5th in Race 1 the last-placed rider for this curious historical occurrence.
  • Sandro Cortese finished in the points his maiden race, recording the best result for a German rider since Stefan Bradl was 6th in Assen/1 in 2017.
  • Alex Lowes was for the third time fourth in Phillip Island, his best result here (both races in 2017 and this year in Race 1).
  • This was his 17th pole position, equalling Doug Polen at the 5th all-time spot. This is his third pole in Phillip Island, which joins Buriram and Magny Cours as the circuits in which Rea has recorded three poles, his best value.

Don’t forget to get your WorldSBK VideoPass to witness more records and achievement unfold at the Yamaha Finance Australian Round!