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Silverstone – the pre-race statistics

Thursday, 1 August 2013 09:07 GMT
Silverstone – the pre-race statistics

Sylvain Guintoli last year managed to qualify on the front row here. In race one he opted for rain tyres, a wrong choice which saw him lapped after a few minutes, while in race two he kept the lead until the final stages, when he was passed by Baz, which eventually fell, leaving him as the winner;

Tom Sykes has still to show his potential in Silverstone, since last year, despite his excellent qualifying form, he started only eighth here. Things didn’t improve in the races: in race one he was running in second, behind Checa, in the dry, but he eventually slipped back to eighth (nevertheless his best result here) in the closing stages, while in race two he fell and was classified twelfth. In 2011 Tom had to withdraw for an ankle injury.

In his four Superbike races run here, Marco Melandri always finished between third and eighth: twice third in 2011, last year he was seventh and eighth.

The best Silverstone weekend for Eugene Laverty was the 2011 one, when he was second both in grid and in the races, behind an uncatchable Carlos Checa. Last year he was only tenth in race one and in race two a possible podium vanished when the race was stopped: he was running third, but the order had to be taken one lap earlier, when he was still in fourth.

Chaz Davies was fourteenth and seventh in last year’s races. He won the Supersport race in 2011 from David Salom and Fabien Foret.

Loris Baz last year had an incredible weekend in Silverstone: he won race one taking the lead only three turns to the end, scoring his maiden win. In race two he was equally able to take the lead, but fell shortly afterwards. The race was eventually stopped and he was classified second, recording also the fastest race lap. Loris is the only rider which took a Kawasaki on the podium in Silverstone.

Jonathan Rea in 2010 had two races very similar to the ones experienced by Laverty in 2011: second in grid and in both races, behind Cal Crutchlow, which dominated proceedings. Rea is the only Honda rider which was able to take a CBR1000 RR inside the top-10 at the end of a race here in the last three years, in all the four races he entered.

Michel Fabrizio counts only one podium finish here out of nine races run: he was second last year in race one, the best BMW rider at the flag. He started the last lap in the lead, but was passed by Baz at Stowe. In 2010 he was fourth in race one. Race two will be his 200th Superbike race start.

On the Silverstone track Leon Camier last year obtained his best career grid spot: second, but was very unlucky in the races, as he fell in race one while running second and his engine failed in race two. Also in 2011, race one, he was victim of mechanical problems while in second: in the races when he didn’t hit trouble, Camier finished sixth and third in 2010 and fifth in 2011, race one;

Last year Jules Cluzel took the hat-trick in Silverstone in the Supersport championship: pole, win and fastest lap.

Ayrton Badovini scored here last year his maiden podium in spectacular fashion, climbing up from eighteenth in grid and falling right after the finish line. In the same race he scored also his first, and to date only, fastest lap in a race.

Carlos Checa always finished among the top-10 in all the six races he entered in Silverstone: he dominated the 2011 ones, was fifth and sixth last year and seventh and tenth in 2010. Last year he was leading with a good margin in race one, but was catched by his rivals when the rain started to fall heavily.

One podium out of eight races run in Silverstone for Leon Haslam, who was third in race one in 2010.