STATS GUIDE: Razgatlioglu and Rea set for another showdown in France?
The two current Kings of Magny-Cours look set to go bar-to-bar once again as the French circuit calls
The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is back to racing action and the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France is the next stop on the 12-round calendar. With the title race heating up and the points gap tightening, there are plenty of stats, facts and trivia to keep an eye on as the second half of 2022 starts, with milestones, achievements and more set to come at Magny-Cours.
350 – Currently on 349, the next time there’re three different manufacturers on the podium will be the 350th time in WorldSBK that it has happened.
100 – Two more fastest laps for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and he’ll have 100.
62 – Two wins for Spain in WorldSBK and they tie with Japan on 62, fifth in the overall rankings.
43 – With 43 races run, Magny-Cours sits in sixth place among the most visited tracks.
23-24 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), at 23 wins, the same of Raymond Roche, is just outside the all-time top ten. His current rival Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) occupies tenth place together with Carlos Checa.
20 – Great Britain is the most successful country at Magny-Cours with 20 wins.
19-35 – Magny-Cours so far has seen 19 winners and 35 podium finishers out of 43 races.
16 – In 2019, Razgatlioglu set a new record for the win from the lowest grid spot at Magny-Cours as he won from 16th, and he did it twice: in Race 1 and in the Tissot Superpole Race.
15 –Razgatlioglu led at least for one lap the last 15 races: data is available since 1998 and it’s the best streak since then, beating the 12 by Colin Edwards from Misano Race 1 to Imola Race 2 in 2002.
12 – Yamaha is running its best ever streak of Superpole front rows: 12 after Most. The same applies to Razgatlioglu, first Yamaha rider with 12 consecutive front rows.
12 – In 2022, 12 podiums have featured Rea, Razgatlioglu and Bautista, just one shy of a new record.
9 – Three wins for Razgatlioglu puts him with Doug Polen in the 9th all-time spot (27 wins).
9 – With eight consecutive podiums, Razgatlioglu is only one shy of his best streak, recorded in the three weekends of Most, Navarra and Magny-Cours last year.
9 – Jonathan Rea is on a winning drought of nine races, his longest since he was 10 times straight second and once third at the beginning of 2019, when then-rookie Bautista was the winner in all those 11 races. To find a longer winless streak for Rea, it’s back to 2012-2013, when it was 33 races from Miller Motorsports Park Race 1, 2012, to Moscow Raceway, 2013. However, he’s also the most successful rider at Magny-Cours with nine wins.
3 – Spain has won here three times: Ruben Xaus in Race 2, 2003 and a Carlos Checa double in 2011.
2 – Magny-Cours has seen two major sporting moments: in 2018, Ana Carrasco was the first female FIM Solo Road Racing World Champion, taking the WorldSSP300 title. In 2019, Manuel Gonzalez was the youngest ever FIM Solo Road Racing World Champion, aged just 17, also in WorldSSP300.
1 – The only French winner at Magny-Cours is Sylvain Guintoli (2012 Race 1 and 2014 Race 1).
0.5 – The closest Championship finish of all-time came at Magny-Cours in 2012, with Max Biaggi beating Tom Sykes to the title by just half a point.
SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK
2021 race winners:
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, Race 1 and Race 2)
- Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, Superpole Race)
Last three pole-sitters at Magny-Cours:
- 2021: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’35.683
- 2020: Eugene Laverty (BMW) 1’48.644 (wet)
- 2019: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’53.955 (wet)
Manufacturer podium places (and wins) accumulated from all races at Magny-Cours:
- Ducati: 41 (17)
- Kawasaki: 30 (14)
- Yamaha: 27 (7)
- Aprilia: 11 (3)
- Honda: 10 (2)
- Suzuki: 7
- BMW: 3
Key gaps Magny-Cours 2021:
- Front row covered by: 0.236s
- 1 second in Superpole covered… the top eight: 0.802s
- Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 0.148s (Rea 1st, Razgatlioglu 2nd, Superpole Race)
- Closest race podium: 5.282s (Rea 1st, Razgatlioglu 2nd, Lowes 3rd, Superpole Race)
- Closest podium of all-time at Magny-Cours: 0.412s (Toseland 1st, Haga 2nd, Bayliss 3rd: Race 1 2006)
Manufacturer top speeds at Magny-Cours, 2019 (dry):
- Kawasaki: Alex Lowes – 295.8 km/h, FP3
- Ducati: Chaz Davies – 300.8 km/h, FP2
- Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli – 296.7 km/h, FP3 and Superpole
- Honda: Alvaro Bautista – 300.8 km/h, FP3 and Superpole
- BMW: Jonas Folger and Michael van der Mark – 295.8 km/h, FP3 and Superpole
Watch all the 2022 season unfold chapter-by-chapter with the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!