STATS ROUND-UP: Bautista makes history and equals records with Toseland and Chili
From hat-trick history to records by others and plenty more, Phillip Island was packed with stats
The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is well underway and after Round 1, we have time to reflect on an epic Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. From rookie sensation to outright domination, we look through the big stats that came to the surface across the Phillip Island weekend, with a season of history-making and record-breaking guaranteed.
395 – With Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) winning Race 2 at Phillip Island, Ducati are on 395 race wins in WorldSBK. They can reach 400 as early as Assen’s Superpole Race.
380 – Leaving Phillip Island, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) has 380 starts to his name, a new record in WorldSBK, leaving Troy Corser at 377.
333.3 – In his debut weekend, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) set a new Phillip Island top speed record at 333.3km/h. The outright WorldSBK top speed record is 339.5km/h by Tom Sykes at Monza in FP2, 2012.
100 – Following Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing Team) taking second in Race 1 of WorldSSP, John McPhee (Vince64 by Puccetti) became the 100th WorldSSP podium finisher.
62 – For the first time since 2019, a rider starts the Championship with a perfect 62 points from 62.
61 – Alvaro Bautista has 61 podiums to his name, tied with Pierfrancesco Chili and James Toseland.
28 – 28 straight races in the points for Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) until his DNF in Race 2, with him now in the top ten sequences of all time.
25 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) took 25 points from the opening round, his best start to a season.
22/18 – Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) is seventh in the Championship standings with 22 points from a circuit he’d not raced at in WorldSBK. This is four more points than his WorldSBK debut at Aragon last year.
21 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) podiums at Phillip Island mean it’s the first time the #21 has been on a Phillip Island rostrum since Troy Bayliss in 2008, when he took a double.
17 – After 17 years of waiting, Ducati returned to winning ways in WorldSSP with Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) in Race 1, the first win since Gianluca Nannelli at Imola, 2005. He is the 59th winner in WorldSSP.
16 – Rinaldi currently has 16 WorldSBK podiums to his name.
14 – For the first time in 14 years, a Yamaha rookie qualified on the front row in their WorldSBK debut. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was third this year, Ben Spies was on pole in 2009.
12 – For the first time in 12 years, there was no Kawasaki representation inside the top six during a race at Phillip Island in WorldSBK – Rea’s P8 in Race 2 was the best Kawasaki at the flag, the worst since Tom Sykes was P8 in 2011’s Race 2.
10 – Remy Gardner’s (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) top ten in Race 2 was the first top ten by an Australian rider since Anthony West was eighth at Portimao in Race 2, 2017. It’s the first time an Australian has had a top ten aboard a Yamaha since Portimao Race 2, 2008, when it was Troy Corser.
10 – On his BMW debut, Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was the first American who has scored a top ten, or even points, for the German manufacturer, with P10 in Race 1.
8 – Eight wins at Phillip Island for Bautista in WorldSBK, more than any other rider at the circuit.
8 – Eighth place in Race 2 was Jonathan Rea’s worst Phillip Island result since 2013’s Race 2, also P8.
5 – The #5 of Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) took a career-best fifth at Phillip Island in Race 2. This is the first time a German rider has ever taken a top five aboard a Ducati, and the first top five for a rider with the #5 since Akira Yanagawa on a Kawasaki at Oschersleben in Race 1, 2001. It was also the first top five by a German rider since Markus Reiterberger on a BMW at Buriram in Race 1, 2016.
5/3/2 – Bautista secured his fifth career hat-trick, his second at Phillip Island, becoming the only rider in WorldSBK to achieve a triple at the same circuit more than once.
4 – Four Ducatis inside the top five since Misano Race 1, 2009, won by Ben Spies but followed home by Shane Byrne, Michel Fabrizio, Jakub Smrz and Noriyuki Haga on Ducatis. The last time there were four in the top five with a Ducati winning was Magny-Cours Race 2 2004, with Haga winning ahead of Champion James Toseland, Regis Laconi, Sebastien Gimbert on a Yamaha, Pierfrancesco Chili and Leon Haslam.
2 – For the first time since becoming teammates, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) is ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu.
1 – For the first time in WorldSBK, Bautista, Locatelli and Rinaldi all share a podium together.
1 – For the first time in WorldSBK history, a Swiss rider set the fastest lap of the race, with Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in the Tissot Superpole Race.
1 – A Ducati rider with the #1 has won a WorldSBK race for the first time since James Toseland at Silverstone in Race 2, 2005. A Ducati rider with the #1 leads the Championship for the first time since Troy Bayliss after Assen Race 1, 2002.
1 – For the first time in WorldSBK history, Ducati won every WorldSBK paddock race (three wins in WorldSBK and two wins in WorldSSP). The last time they won all WorldSBK and WorldSSP races available in a weekend was Brands Hatch in 2000, when Neil Hodgson and Troy Bayliss shared the spoils in WorldSBK, and Paolo Casoli took honours in WorldSSP. Spoiling the Ducati party in the STK1000 class, Jamie Morley for his only win aboard a Suzuki from pole position.
ROUND 2 AWAITS: enjoy the action LIVE and OnDemand with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
