STATS ROUND-UP: number-crunching from the WorldSBK paddock at Estoril
Landmark achievements, the highest numbers and on the brink of a century – what were the unmissable magical numbers from Round 2?
The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has enjoyed a colossal opening two rounds of the season, and there were plenty of milestones hit over the Gaerne Estoril Round weekend. From close finishes to the huge numbers and country-firsts, make sure you make a note of the unmissable statistical headlines from the second round of 2021.
770 – Chaz Davies’ (Team GoEleven) second place in Race 2 at Estoril was the 770th podium place for Great Britain in WorldSBK. The first came at Donington Park in Race 2, 1988 – the Championship’s second race – when Roger Burnett took third after achieving the first ever pole position in WorldSBK history.
635 – Davies’ podium in Race 2 made it the 635th different race that a Ducati rider has featured on the podium, some 286 ahead of nearest rivals Kawasaki.
191 – Jonathan Rea took a 190th podium with his win in the Tissot Superpole Race, before taking his 191st podium in Race 2 with a win.
99 – Chaz Davies took his 99th podium and his first of 2021 in Race 2 at Estoril.
99 – Yamaha are also on the number 99, but this is for 99 wins in World Supersport. They could become the first manufacturer to reach 100 wins in the class next time out at Misano, a circuit where they also hit other significant victory milestones when they won their 5th, 10th, 15th and 25th races there.
73 – Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies have shared the same podium in WorldSBK a record of 73 times, which is more than Rea and Tom Sykes at 65, and the next is Carl Fogarty and Aaron Slight at 48.
31 – For the 31st time in WorldSBK, Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies finished 1-2 in a race in that exact order. This occurred in Race 2.
28 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) took his 28th career podium, putting him level with Regis Laconi in the 29th all-time ranking. Interestingly, it took Laconi 84 races to reach this number, whilst for Toprak, it has taken 89 – although in terms of years, it has taken Toprak less than Regis, by virtue of the additional Tissot Superpole Race for the last three years.
23 - Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) gave San Marino their first ever podium in World Supersport, thus making San Marino the 23rd different country to score a WorldSSP podium.
8 – With his first rostrum of the year, Chaz Davies moves up to eighth in the overall span of years between his first and most-recent podium, at 8 years, 10 months and 29 days, moving ahead of Max Biaggi. Only three active riders are ahead of him: Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in fifth, Jonathan Rea in second and Leon Haslam (Team HRC) in third. A podium for Haslam would see him go to the top as the longest career span between first and most-recent podiums.
1 – Dominique Aegerter took his first victory in World Supersport, becoming the second Swiss rider to do this in the class. This was also the first Ten Kate Racing victory since they partnered up with Yamaha, and the first for the Dutch team since 2015 at Losail when Kyle Smith won; there were 2205 days between their last win and the win at Estoril in Race 2.
0.915 – The gap of the first podium in WorldSBK in 2021 that has been covered by less than a second.
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