STATS GUIDE: will the rollercoaster give more records for WorldSBK in 2022?
The final European destination on the calendar, Portimao is set for more edge-of-your-seat action
The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has arrived at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal for the final European event of the year. With the title battle continuing to rage, Portimao is set for another unpredictable round where records are on the horizon. From podium tally records to win droughts and mystical numbers, Portimao’s stats guide has dropped.
400 – Italian riders so far have scored 398 podium placements and Italy can become the second country to reach 400 at Portimao. The United Kingdom leads the way at 841. The 400th British podium came at Sepang, 2014 (Tom Sykes).
29 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is the only rider who has raced in all the 29 WorldSBK races held at Portimao since the track entered the WorldSBK Championship in 2008.
27 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) is one win shy of the ninth all-time place, held by double World Champion Doug Polen and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on 27 wins. In Barcelona, he was winless in a weekend for the first time since Estoril, back in May.
21/24 – At Portimao, Bautista has the first shot to equal his personal record of season podiums, 24, set in 2019 (he is at 21 now). That is ten less than the absolute season record, set in that same 2019 Championship by Rea (34).
21 – A front row start has a great importance at Portimao as 21 wins out of 29 came from there.
15 – Great Britain is the most successful country at Portimao, with 15 wins to Italy’s five.
15 – Jonathan Rea is on a winning drought of 15 races, his longest since 2012-2013, when he was off the top step of the podium for 33 races from Miller Motorsports Park Race 1 in 2012 to Moscow Raceway Race 1, 2013.
6/7 – Seven different manufacturers have been able to record at least a podium placement at Portimao: (Ducati, Honda, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW). Six of them are winners: Kawasaki, Ducati, Aprilia, Yamaha, BMW, Honda.
3 – Alvaro Bautista is on a streak of three wins, his longest since his legendary run of 11 consecutive wins at the start of his rookie season, 2019. That equalled the longest ever streak, set by Rea in the last 11 races of the previous season. Incidentally, Bautista has scored 11 wins in 2022 so far.
3 – Bautista is not only on a streak of three wins, but also led all the laps in Catalunya. This year, Razgatlioglu has managed the same feat in Donington. To find a longer sequence of races led entirely by one rider, we have to go back to 2019, with a streak of six from the Superpole Race in Buriram to Assen Race 1, always by Bautista.
2x – Rea remains one win shy of having the double number of wins of his nearest competitor, Carl Fogarty: 118 vs 59.
2 – Yamaha is the only manufacturer to have taken pole in consecutive years with two riders at Portimao: in 2009 with Ben Spies and in 2010 with Cal Crutchlow, two different nationalities too.
2 – The last time Honda took two straight poles in WorldSBK was in 2011 with Jonathan Rea at Magny-Cours and Portimao; they could update that this weekend.
SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK
2021 race winners:
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, Race 1)
- Michael van der Mark (BMW, Tissot Superpole Race)
- Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, Race 2)
Last three pole-sitters at Portimao:
- 2021: Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’40.219
- 2020: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’40.676
- 2019: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’40.372
Manufacturer podium places (and wins) from all WorldSBK races at Portimao:
- Ducati: 27 (5)
- Kawasaki: 19 (14)
- Yamaha: 17 (3)
- Honda: 10 (1)
- Aprilia: 10 (4)
- Suzuki: 2
- BMW: 2 (2)
Key gaps from Portimao in 2021:
- Front row covered by: 0.561s
- 1 second in Superpole covered… the top seven: 0.927s
- Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 0.691s (Razgatlioglu 1st, Redding 2nd, Race 1)
- Closest race podium: 7.066s (van der Mark 1st, Redding 2nd, Baz 3rd, Superpole Race)
- Closest race podium of all time: 0.658s (Biaggi 1st, Haslam 2nd, Crutchlow 3rd, Race 2 2010)
Manufacturer top speeds at Portimao in 2020:
- Honda: Alvaro Bautista – 315.9 km/h, Race 2
- Ducati: Scott Redding and Loris Baz – 315.0 km/h, Redding in FP1 and Baz in FP3
- Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu – 315.0 km/h, Superpole
- Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea – 314.0 km/h, FP1
- BMW: Michael van der Mark – 312.2 km/h, FP1
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