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STATS GUIDE: variety guaranteed in Barcelona, but which strange stat explains it best?

Tuesday, 2 May 2023 07:26 GMT

As 2023 rumbles through Europe, Round 4 beckons, but is all the talk of Bautista dominance actually backed up by all the stats?

Barcelona calls as the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is heading for the fourth round – and the second in Europe – of the season. Titanic fights are expected like always, but perhaps with different names to what we usually expect. Find out how a form guide is hard to read in Barcelona, why Superpole is NOT a good indicator and plenty more in this week’s stats guide.

400 – Ducati has reached 400 wins at Assen, but there is another 400 in sight: Yamaha counts at the moment 396 podium placements. The Japanese manufacturer is fourth in these rankings behind Ducati (1032), Kawasaki (527) and Honda (397). With just one podium placement, they will reach Honda at the third all-time spot.

334 – If a top speed of 334km/h is hit, then it will be the highest top speed on the current calendar in WorldSBK. The current highest is 333.9km/h, at Aragon by Chaz Davies on an Aprilia in 2012. The outright top speed is 339.5km/h achieved by Tom Sykes and Kawasaki at Monza, 2012.

250 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is currently on 248 podiums; he can be the first rider to reach 250.

73 – The pair of riders who have shared the highest number of podiums at the moment is Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea, at 73. The couple of Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) is just two shy of that value, at 71.

51 – In 2021, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) recorded his 51st pole, increasing his all-time record; this was BMW’s most recent pole position. His next competitor is Troy Corser at 43 and Sykes’ record will stand at least for this year, as the active rider with the highest number of poles is Jonathan Rea at 41.

50% – If Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) wins Race 1 in Barcelona, he would have a perfect 50% winning rate on a Ducati: 41 wins out of 82 starts.

43 – With a hat-trick of wins, Bautista will equal Noriyuki Haga at the 4th all-time spot.

31 – The record was in sight at Assen, Race 2: Bautista led Razgatlioglu and Rea, but the latter crashed, so we have to wait to see the 31st time they will share a podium. That would equal the WorldSBK record of podiums shared: Chaz Davies, Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes (2014-2019).

11/12 – Alvaro Bautista has started the season with eight wins out of nine. Going to Catalunya he can aim to an 11 out of 12. This was recorded only twice in the past: by Neil Hodgson in 2003 and by the same Bautista in 2019.

11 – No less than eleven riders made it to the podium in Barcelona in nine races run: the record belongs to Jonathan Rea at five, followed by Alvaro Bautista at four. Of all those 11 riders, just one isn’t part of the 2023 field: Chaz Davies, who retired in 2021.

6 – In 2020, Barcelona was first on the WorldSBK calendar, the sixth Spanish track in history.

6 – Six different winners came out of nine races run here so far: last year Alvaro Bautista went from zero wins to the track record of three. He’s followed by Rea at two.

5/4 – The most common winning grid spots here are 4th and the 5th: three wins from each were recorded in Barcelona.

1 – In 2021, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) got a first WorldSBK podium with P2 in Race 1.

SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK

2022 race winner:

  • Alvaro Bautista (Ducati, Race 1, Superpole Race and Race 2)

Polesitters at Barcelona-Catalunya:

  • 2022: Iker Lecuona (Honda) 1’40.766
  • 2021: Tom Sykes (BMW) 1’40.408
  • 2020: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’41.619 (old layout)

Manufacturer podium places (and wins) from all WorldSBK races at Barcelona-Catalunya:

  • Yamaha: 8 (1)
  • Ducati: 12 (6)
  • Kawasaki: 6 (2)

Key gaps Catalunya in 2021:

  • Front row covered by: 0.217s
  • 1 second in Superpole covered… the top 9: 0.917s
  • Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 1.185s (Bautista 1st, Rea 2nd, Superpole Race)
  • Closest race podium: 1.377s (Bautista 1st, Rea 2nd, Lowes 3rd, Superpole Race) – closest WorldSBK race podium in Barcelona

Manufacturer top speeds at Catalunya 2021):

  • Honda: Alvaro Bautista – 333.3km/h, Superpole
  • Ducati: Scott Redding – 330.2 km/h, Race 1
  • Yamaha: Garrett Gerloff – 326.2 km/h, Race 2
  • Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea – 325.3 km/h, FP1
  • BMW: Michael van der Mark and Loris Baz – 324.3 km/h, Superpole Race

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