The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads for the penultimate round of the season with the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve playing host to the Pirelli Portuguese Round. Always a classic, the rollercoaster will welcome the usual unpredictability but with the 2023 title on the line, does the form guide point towards a Prosecco DOC being sprayed or being put on ice?
181 – The next race for Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) will be the 181st with Ducati. That will equal the 4th highest value for a manufacturer.
116/119 – Yamaha missed out at Aragon so now it’s the second match ball to equal Honda for wins. Yamaha are on 116, Honda at 119, the latter occupying the third all-time place.
56 – With 53 wins, all for Ducati, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) could equal the rider with the most Ducati wins, Carl Fogarty, on 55 wins this weekend, whilst a hat-trick will surpass him.
32 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is the only rider who has raced in all the 32 WorldSBK races held at Portimao since the track entered the WorldSBK Championship in 2008.
29-28 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) climbed on the podium 28 times out of 30 this season. This is just one short of his best seasons, 2021 and 2022.
28-28 – Ducati this season has led at least one lap in 28 races: this is the best-known value for a Championship, matching last year’s value by Yamaha. I
24 – It’s been 24 years since Ducati won back-to-back WorldSBK titles with the same rider; Carl Fogarty won in 1998 and 1999, with Alvaro Bautista able to repeat that on Sunday at Portimao if results go his way.
22/24 – Ducati is just two wins short of the best ever value recorded by a manufacturer in a single season. It’s themselves: they won 24 times in 2003 and 23 in 1991; this year they’ve won 22 races.
24 – Rea is the record holder for podium finishes here: no less than 24 out of 32 races contested. Rea has also competed in every single WorldSBK race to be held at Portimao.
24 – A front row start has great importance at Portimao as 24 wins out of 32 came from there.
15/13 – The UK is the most successful country at Portimao, with 15 wins to Italy’s five. Rea has 13 wins, the second-best value for any rider on any track in WorldSBK after his own 17 wins at Assen.
12 – So far, there have been no less than 12 different winners at Portimao. The last two added to this list are Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu in 2021.
8/9 – The longest winning streak for a manufacturer here is eight by Kawasaki, all by Rea from 2015’s Race 1 to 2019’s Tissot Superpole Race. He has a win for Honda from Race 2, 2014, making the longest streak for a rider here at nine races long. That is an all-time record streak for WorldSBK.
6/7 – Seven manufacturers have been able to record at least a podium placement at Portimao: (Ducati, Honda, Aprilia, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW). Of them, only Suzuki didn’t win.
5 – Jonathan Rea is the record holder also for poles here, five, followed by Tom Sykes at three.
2 – Yamaha is the only manufacturer to have recorded pole in consecutive years with two different riders at Portimao: 2009 with Ben Spies and 2010 with Cal Crutchlow. That’s two nationalities too.
1 –Jonathan Rea debuted in WorldSBK in 2008 at Portimao, the last weekend of the season. He came from the World Supersport Championship, and recorded the third-best time in Superpole, finishing 4th in Race 1. In Race 2, he was 15th after an off-track excursion whilst running 5th.
SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK
2022 race winners:
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, Race 1 and Superpole Race)
- Alvaro Bautista (Ducati, Race 2)
Last three pole-sitters at Portimao:
- 2022: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’39.610
- 2021: Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’40.219
- 2020: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’40.676
Manufacturer podium places (and wins) from all WorldSBK races at Portimao:
- Ducati: 30 (6)
- Kawasaki: 22 (14)
- Yamaha: 20 (5)
- Honda: 10 (1)
- Aprilia: 10 (4)
- Suzuki: 2
- BMW: 2 (2)
Key gaps from Portimao in 2022:
- Front row covered by: 0.249s
- 1 second in Superpole covered… the top 12: 0.916s
- Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 0.123s (Razgatlioglu 1st, Bautista 2nd, Race 1)
- Closest race podium: 1.434s (Razgatlioglu 1st, Bautista 2nd, Rea 3rd, Superpole Race)
- Closest race podium of all time: 0.658s (Biaggi 1st, Haslam 2nd, Crutchlow 3rd, Race 2 2010)
Manufacturer top speeds at Portimao in 2020:
- Honda: Xavi Vierge – 324.4 km/h, Superpole
- Ducati: Michael Ruben Rinaldi – 316.8 km/h, Superpole
- Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu – 317.7 km/h, Race 2
- Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea – 315.9 km/h, Superpole
- BMW: Loris Baz – 317.7 km/h, FP2
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Source: WorldSBK.com