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After a lengthy pause since round two, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is back in action at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, the northern-most circuit on the WorldSBK calendar. In recent years, this has been a happy hunting ground for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) but with a rough start to the year, he’s not as guaranteed for success as previous years, whilst the Ducati Panigale V4 R – which has won five of the opening six races – could make it 400 victories in World Superbike for the legendary Italian brand.

700 – With at least a rider on the podium in the three Assen races, Ducati will reach the milestone of 700 races on the podium, as they stand now at 697. Ducati has already celebrated a podium-related milestone last year in Most, when they reached 1000 podium places. Ducati’s best opponent is Kawasaki, at 405 races on the podium.

540 – Jonathan Rea has taken 540 points at Assen: an all-time record. His best rival is Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) with 411 at Donington.

400 – With 397 race wins, Ducati has its first shot at the milestone of 400 at Assen.

48 – 48 different riders have qualified on the front row at Assen since 1992, with the 50^th possible this weekend. On the current grid, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), teammate Jonathan Rea, Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), teammate Michael van der Mark, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Tom Sykes and Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) have achieved it. In WorldSBK history, Donington Park has the most at 55.

35 – Assen is a home for British wins: no less than 35 out of 62. The next country for wins at Assen is Australia on nine, the last of which came with Troy Bayliss in 2008 with a dominant double.

23 – Rea can equal and surpass his all-time record of podiums on a given track in WorldSBK, 24, set at Aragon and at Portimao. He has 23 Assen podiums; Tom Sykes is his best rival with 17 Donington Park podiums.

20 – No less than 20 different riders have won a WorldSBK race at Assen but just three of them are present in the 2023 field: Rea, Bautista and Sykes. Interestingly, double Champion Troy Corser is not among the 20, despite having run 30 races here and finishing on the podium seven times.

17 – 17 wins for Rea at Assen: the absolute record for a rider on any given track.

14 – The last of the two Assen Yamaha wins came 14 years ago, with Ben Spies in Race 1, 2009.

5 – Rea has not climbed on the podium in the last five races: that’s a rare occurrence, as the last time he went for such a podium-less streak was nine years ago: seven from Donington Park Race 1 to Portimao Race 1, 2014.

4 – Sykes holds the record for Assen poles: 4. Corser (1995, 1999, 2006), Pierfrancesco Chili (1998, 2003, 2004) and Rea (2010, 2017, 2021) are his nearest rivals.

2 – Only two riders managed to get a maiden WorldSBK win at Assen: Chris Walker (Race 1, 2006) and Sylvain Guintoli (Race 1, 2012).

1 - Only one rider was able to win a dry race here starting outside the top five on the grid: that was Jonathan Rea in 2017 in Race 2, from ninth.

0.002s – The closest WorldSSP300 finish in history came at Assen in Race 2, 2022: Hugo De Cancellis took a career-first win by 0.002s ahead of eventual Champion Alvaro Diaz.

SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK

2022 race winners:

• Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, Race 1, Tissot Superpole Race)
• Alvaro Bautista (Ducati, Race 2)

Last three pole-sitters at Assen:

• 2022: Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’32.934
• 2021: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’33.842
• 2019: Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) 1’34.740

Manufacturer podium places (and wins) accumulated from all races at Assen:

• Ducati: 81 (28)
• Honda: 39 (15)
• Kawasaki: 30 (15)
• Yamaha: 22 (2)
• Aprilia: 9 (2)
• Suzuki: 5

Key gaps from Assen 2022:

• Front row covered by: 0.687s
• 1 second in Superpole covered… the top four: 0.954s
• Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 0.103s (Rea 1st, Bautista 2nd, Race 1)
• Closest race podium: 0.300s (Rea 1st, Razgatlioglu 2nd, Bautista 3rd, Superpole Race)
• Closest Assen podium of all-time: 0.070s (Fogarty 1st, Corser 2nd, Kocinski 3rd, Race 2 1996)

Manufacturer top speeds at Assen, 2022:

• Ducati: Alvaro Bautista – 302.5 km/h, Superpole Race
• Honda: Xavi Vierge – 300.8. km/h, Superpole Race
• Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes and – 298.3 km/h, Superpole Race and Race 2
• Yamaha: Andrea Locatelli – 298.3 km/h, Race 2
• BMW: Scott Redding – 299.1 km/h, Race 2

Watch all the 2023 season unfold chapter-by-chapter with the comprehensive WorldSBK VideoPass!