The return of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship action is complete and the venue that is steeped in history definitely made more this weekend. From major points-scoring achievements, records that riders never want, a century of podiums and the longest points-scoring career in WorldSBK history being achieved, this week’s stats round-up is a busy one right through the field.
6000 – With his third place in Race 2 at Imola, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) became the first rider ever to achieve 6000 points in their career; he’s on 6003.5, 4424 of which have been achieved with Kawasaki – his total with the Japanese manufacturer enough for P1 in the total classification.
179 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) currently has 179 points in the Championship and is placed as second Ducati; after seven rounds of 2022, he had 151 but, excluding Bautista, no other Ducati rider achieved as many as he has this year (Michael Ruben Rinaldi was on 167, Philipp Oettl on 53 and Luca Bernardi on 27). This year, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has 129, rookie Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) has 117 and Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) still has 53. It’s also more than any other Ducati, excluding Scott Redding, was able to do in 2021 more than double Bassani’s points tally after the same period (87).
100 – Toprak Razgatlioglu hit 100 podiums in Race 1 at Imola; he ended his weekend on 102.
36 – Razgatlioglu is on 36 career wins, alone in sixth overall in the win charts: he’s seven behind Noriyuki Haga.
28 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) entered the top ten for all-time points-scoring streaks with his P4 in Race 2, now at 28, matching previous streaks by Doug Polen, Simon Crafar, Chaz Davies, Alex Lowes and teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu. The all-time record is 48 by Jonathan Rea, set from Laguna Seca Race 1, 2018 until Lusail Race 2, 2019. He crashed in 2020’s season-opener at Phillip Island.
19 – 19 laps led in his career for Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), the same as Akira Yanagawa, but Bassani’s without a win; the all-time record for laps led without victory is 45 by Davide Guigliano.
19 – Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was a substitute rider in the factory BMW team at Imola and scored points in Race 1, giving him the biggest interval from his first points-scoring race in WorldSBK to his most recent: 19 years, 11 months and 18 days from Brands Hatch Race 2, 2003 and Imola Race 1 2023.
17 – Alvaro Bautista’s only win of the round came in Race 1, but it was his 17th of the year, matching the all-time record held by Doug Polen from 1991 and Jonathan Rea in 2017 and 2018.
11 – Razgatlioglu equalled the record for number of poles for Yamaha, tying with 2009 World Champion Ben Spies at 11.
10 – Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) gave Honda a first top ten since Misano with his Race 1 P10; it was Honda’s first top ten at Imola since Stefan Bradl was also tenth in Race 1, 2017.
7 – A best result of the year for Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), who took P7 and top BMW honours in Race 2. For the first time since joining the project, he was top BMW in both feature-length races.
6 – Axel Bassani took a sixth podium of his career in Race 2 at Imola, now level with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) overall, but he’s yet to win a race. For reference, the rider with the most WorldSBK podiums without a single victory is another Italian, Davide Guigliano, at 14.
6 – An outstanding weekend for Brad Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team), who took a career-first top ten with a mighty P6 in Race 2, the second Independent rider home.
5 – For the first time this year, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took three top five finishes during the same round,
2 – For the first time in 2023, Jonathan Rea took two feature-length race podiums in the same round.
2 – After more than two years, Andrea Locatelli led a race again in WorldSBK in Race 1, whilst he led more laps than anyone else in the Tissot Superpole Race at five.
Watch round highlights from our return to Imola here and enjoy 2023 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
Source: WorldSBK.com