STATS ROUND-UP: the biggest numbers from a barnstorming Barcelona weekend
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw records broken and history made, with the first round of a triple header firing into life
The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has once again taken a dramatic twist following the Hyundai N Catalunya Round, with the Championship lead changing twice across the weekend. As Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) leads Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by one point, it was Ducati who shone this weekend, whilst Honda and BMW also stole some headlines.
802 – Scott Redding’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) win in Race 1 meant it was the 800th podium place for Great Britain: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) winning in the Superpole Race and Redding back on the podium in Race 2 meant that Great Britain is now on 802 podium places.
650 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) taking Race 2 honours meant that it was the 650th time Ducati has been represented on the podium.
394/37/29 – Honda take a 394th podium place, back on the podium for the first time in 37 races. It was also the same rider, Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) in the Tissot Superpole Race, the race he gave Honda the race lead for the first time back in 2020 before crashing. Bautista also becomes the 29th Honda rider to take more than one podium for the manufacturer.
375 – Rinaldi’s win is the 375th in WorldSBK for Ducati.
325 – For the 325th time in World Superbike history, three different manufacturers made it onto the podium at the end of the race. This happened in the Tissot Superpole Race with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) and Alvaro Bautista (Honda).
262 – For the first time in 262 races, Ducati achieved their first podium lockout in WorldSBK since 2012 in Assen’s Race 1 with Scott Redding, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Back then, it was Sylvain Guintoli, Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa – Giugliano, like Bassani, was a rookie and took his first podium.
126/70 – Axel Bassani became the 126th rider to finish on the podium in WorldSBK and the 70th rookie to do so.
51 – Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) took his 51st pole position in WorldSBK, his first since Phillip Island in 2020. It is BMW’s fifth pole and a first for the BMW M 1000 RR.
30 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took his 30th podium place in the Tissot Superpole Race, before achieving another podium in Race 2, leaving him on 31 and third overall in Yamaha’s podium standings.
28 – Scott Redding’s third place in Race 2 is the 28th podium of his career, of which 14 of them have been achieved this year. He is now level with Regis Laconi in the 31st all-time spot for podiums.
5 – Five Championship lead changes in 2021’s season, all happening since Donington Park – when they’ve changed, the new margin for the Championship leader has always been less than seven.
4 – With a fourth win for Ducati in Race 2, Michael Ruben Rinaldi is now in 20th in Ducati’s win rankings and the fourth most-successful Italian in terms of wins – level with Michel Fabrizio. The next target will be five, putting him level with John Kocinski.
2 – The last time that two Italian riders stood on the same podium was back in 2013 at Laguna Seca Race 2, with Davide Giugliano second and Marco Melandri third. The last time two Italians on Ducatis stood on the podium together was in Race 2 at Brno, 2008: Michel Fabrizio second, Max Biaggi third.
0.003s – Race 2 in WorldSSP300 gave the closest finish of a World Championship race in the WorldSBK paddock, with Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) beating Alvaro Diaz Cebrian (Arco-Motor University Team).
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