Number crunching: all the big records set in WorldSBK’s crazy 2020 season
Huge numbers, big achievements and massive milestones: the 2020 season was a treat for the statisticians…
The 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship may go down in as one of the most unique seasons in the Championship’s history, but it didn’t disappoint in terms of on-track action. Seven different winners, a whole host of rookies shining at the front and some of the biggest records set straight, it’s time to delve deep into the stats and pick out some of the best bits of trivia from 2020.
20,000 – Kawasaki as a manufacturer surpassed 20,000 points in WorldSBK at Magny-Cours; they currently have 20,049.5.
2018 – For the first time since Buriram 2018, Honda qualified on the front row in WorldSBK, with Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) on the front row at Catalunya. For the first time since 2016, they qualified on the front row more than once in a single season, as Leon Haslam (Team HRC) gave them another front row at Estoril.
2009 – Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) took the first back-to-back podiums for an American rider since Ben Spies was 1st and 2nd at the Nurburgring in 2009.
2004 – For the first time since 2004, there were four different winners at the start of the season: Razgatlioglu, Rea, Lowes and Redding. However, unlike 2004, these were across three manufacturers.
950 – Scott Redding’s (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) second place at Estoril in Race 2 gave Ducati a 950th podium place in WorldSBK.
750 – Great Britain achieved a 750th podium place in Race 1 at Magny-Cours, taken by Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) across the line in third.
450 – Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) second place at Catalunya in the Tissot Superpole Race was Kawasaki’s 450th podium place. They ended the season with 454.
360 – Scott Redding’s second win of his WorldSBK career came as Ducati’s 360th win in WorldSBK.
320 – Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) started his 320th race in Race 2 at Estoril.
300 – Michael van der Mark’s (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) podium at Portimao was the 300th podium place for Yamaha in WorldSBK
275 – At Magny-Cours in Race 1, Jonathan Rea took Great Britain’s 275th victory in WorldSBK. They now have 278 in total, courtesy of Chaz Davies’ (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) win at the end of 2020.
250 – Chaz Davies’ fastest lap at Estoril in Race 2 was the 250th fastest lap set by a British rider, accounting for 29.98% of all fastest laps set in races.
170 – Ducati scoring points at Estoril in Race 2 was the 170th consecutive point-scoring ride for the manufacturer.
150 – Race 1 at Portimao saw Jonathan Rea take victory for Kawasaki, the manufacturer’s 150th in WorldSBK.
150 – Race 1 at Estoril, Alex Lowes’ most recent point-scoring ride, was his 150th race in the points.
99 – Jonathan Rea is on 99 wins going into the off-season and into 2021, as he aims to become the first rider to achieve 100 wins.
27 – Estoril’s return to racing action on Saturday 17th October marked exactly 27 years to do the day that the last WorldSBK race at the circuit started, back in 1993.
21 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s (Team GOELEVEN) victory at MotorLand Aragon makes him just the second rider to win with the #21 after Troy Bayliss. Both were on a Ducati and 20 years apart from one another: precisely 7,399 days.
7 – For the first time since 2013, there were seven different winners in WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu, Rea, Lowes, Redding, Rinaldi, van der Mark and Davies.
6 – Jonathan Rea took a record-breaking sixth consecutive WorldSBK title, the first rider to do this in an FIM Road Racing Solo World Championship since Giacomo Agostini won seven consecutive 350cc titles from 1968 to 1974 to make it six on the bounce.
5 – All five manufacturers were able to achieve top five placings in the races this season, as well as all being able to qualify in the top two places on the grid after Tissot Superpole.
3 – Three Ducati 1-2s in 2020, the first time they’ve hit this number since they got four in 2010. They achieved their first 1-2 of the year in Race 2 at Jerez, their first since Assen Race 1 2012, when they locked out the rostrum.
1 – For the first time in his career, Michael Ruben Rinaldi took victory in WorldSBK, his first podium finish.
1 – BMW achieved a 1-2 in Superpole for the first time ever at Magny-Cours, with Eugene Laverty on pole and Tom Sykes in second.
1 – For the first time in their WorldSBK history, Yamaha achieved a 1-2-3 on the podium, in the Tissot Superpole Race at Estoril. It was the first time a manufacturer locked out the podium since Kawasaki in 2019 at Donington Park, also in the Tissot Superpole Race.
1 – For the first time in WorldSBK history, a Turkish rider led the Championship as Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) won the opening race of the season.
0.111s – The combined gap between first and second across all three races at Phillip Island was identical to the closest finish of the 2019 season.
0.041s – The second-closest podium in WorldSBK history in Race 1 of the year at Phillip Island.
0.007s – The gap between first and second in Race 1 of the season; the seventh closest of all time.
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