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SUNDAY STATS PACK: what history can be made during Portimao’s second race day?

Saturday, 2 October 2021 14:50 GMT

After a barnstorming Saturday, there’s huge milestones in the minds of WorldSBK stars on Sunday…

The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s title battle raged at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for round 11 of the season. The Motul Portuguese Round saw records broken right from the start of Saturday and even more stats and achievements snatched throughout the opening race. So, it is time to find out what was achieved and what we could expect to see on Sunday with the stats debrief from Saturday.

  1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took a first win in WorldSBK at Portimao, Yamaha’s first at the track since Marco Melandri in Race 2, 2011. It’s Yamaha’s 300th race on the podium.
     
  2. With Razgatlioglu winning and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashing, the Championship lead is now at 45 points, the biggest of the season so far. Razgatlioglu could achieve his 50th WorldSBK podium of his career on Sunday, having taken his 25th of the year on Saturday in Race 1, which puts him level with Carlos Checa with 49. Rea’s crash is his first DNF since Most Race 1.
     
  3. For the first time in his career, Toprak Razgatlioglu wins three consecutive races. It’s his 16th win in WorldSBK, the same as Giancarlo Falappa, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland and Alvaro Bautista.
     
  4. Scott Redding took his 31st podium of the year – two more on Sunday and he gets to within striking distance of Eugene Laverty, Michel Fabrizio and Ruben Xaus’ tally of 35 in the 25th all-time spot. Redding was also the first Ducati home, the 200th consecutive race for Ducati in the points.
     
  5. Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) takes his first podium on Ducati, the third manufacturer he has been on the rostrum with in WorldSBK. A podium on Sunday and he becomes the 38th rider in WorldSBK history to reach 20 podiums.
     
  6. A notable performance from Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team), who took eighth, his first top eight in WorldSBK since San Juan’s Race 2, 2019 and the first top eight for the MIE Racing Honda Team with the new Honda CBR1000RR-R.
     
  7. For the first time in his WorldSBK career, Toprak Razgatlioglu took back-to-back poles. This means that it is the first back-to-back poles for Yamaha since Brno and Silverstone in 2010, when it was Cal Crutchlow.
     
  8. Jonathan Rea’s second on the grid meant that he takes an 11th consecutive front row of the season, giving him the Tissot Superpole Award for the year.
     
  9. With Leon Haslam (Team HRC) third on the grid, it is the 200th front row after Superpole with Honda on the front row.
     
  10. Adrian Huertas becomes the fifth different World Champion in World Supersport 300, following his finish in Race 1 at Portimao. For the second consecutive season, MTM Kawasaki take the Riders’ Championship. WorldSSP300 Race 1 was won by Samuele Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo), who took a first win for France in the class. France is therefore the ninth country to win a race in the class, whilst Di Sora is the 20th different winner in WorldSSP300.

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