STATS ROUND UP: how did Bautista cement himself as a Ducati great at Assen?
From magical hat-tricks to coincidental numbers and unwanted records, the stats from the Netherlands are in
The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is picking up pace as the European leg of the season begins. Round three at the TT Circuit Assen always provides talking points and this year’s numbers back-up that fact. With Ducati making more statistical waves, new names coming good and unexpected dips in performance, what do the stats tell us as the dust settles at Assen?
700 – Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) win in Race 2 was the 700th different race podium Ducati have been on.
400 – Ducati managed a 400th win in WorldSBK when Alvaro Bautista took victory in Race 2.
104 – Points scored by Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in 2023 after nine races, 20 more than the same stage last year and 59 more than in 2021. Ironically, in his rookie season, Locatelli was 104 points behind the Championship leader in 2021; it was Jonathan Rea then. This year, he’s 31 ahead of the #65.
101 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is 101 points behind the Championship leader after nine races. It’s the first time after nine races he’s been more than 100 behind since his rookie 2009 season, when he was 136 behind.
90 – 90th career podium for Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) with P2 in Race 2 at Assen.
71 – For the 71st time, Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu stood on the podium together. That’s two behind the outright record of shared podium: Rea with Chaz Davies, 73.
40 – Bautista’s Race 2 win was his 40th, meaning he’s achieved exactly 10% of Ducati’s win.
34 – Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) has 34 points in 2023, one point less than at the same stage in 35. Since the M 1000 RR has been in action, the highest number of points scored after nine races is 51 in 2021, by Tom Sykes.
25 – Rea set a new record for single circuit podiums: 25, one more than he has at Portimao and Aragon.
10 – Andrea Locatelli took his tenth WorldSBK podium, putting him level on total podiums Simon Crafar and Max Neukirchner in the 50th place of all-time.
10 – There were no Hondas inside the top in either full races. The last time that happened was at Magny-Cours 2020, when their best finish was a 12th by Alvaro Bautista in Race 1.
9 – Locatelli has now achieved nine consecutive top five finishes at the start of the season.
6 – Six poles for Bautista, who is now level with John Kocinski and Cal Crutchlow.
6 – Remy Gardner’s (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) sixth in Race 2 was his best result so far in 2023, the first top six by an Australian rider in WorldSBK since Anthony West’s P5 at Sepang in Race 2, 2016.
5 – The triple at Assen was Bautista’s fifth in WorldSBK, after Phillip Island 2019, Buriram 2019, Barcelona-Catalunya 2022, Phillip Island 2013 and Assen 2023.
4 – Best result in WorldSBK by a Swiss rider, Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took fourth in Race 2, beating Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). Bassani is fourth in the Championship, with 77 points and top Independent.
3 – Three points for Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) with 13th in Race 2, his best finish of 2023.
1 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) scored his first point of the season in Race 2 at Assen. He moves into the top ten in terms of points-scoring length: his first points came as a seventh at Brands Hatch in 2008’s Race. The interval is now at 14 years, eight months and 20 days. If he scores points after August 3rd, his spell will be at over 15 years.
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