The 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is now heading into its final third of the season and the title race was blown wide open. A sixth different winner of the season, as well as ending a race winning streak and beginning another, there were statistical stories right the way through the order but on Saturday, a long wait had finally come to an end…
1070 – After a wait of 1070 days, Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took victory during Race 1 at Magny-Cours. His last win was in the Superpole Race at Portimao in 2021.
750 – With their win in Race 2, Ducati was represented on the podium for the 750th time.
160/2 – A 160th pole for Great Britain and a second pole of his career for Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), after a wait of six years dating back to Assen, 2018. It was his first pole for Kawasaki.
150/1 – In his 150th race, Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) led his first race in WorldSBK; the last American to lead a race was PJ Jacobsen in 2018 during Phillip Island’s Race 2.
111 – The #11 of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won his first full-distance race without a pitstop in Race 2, with the #11 giving Italy a 111th win in WorldSBK.
There had been exactly 100 races since Michael van der Mark’s previous win at Portimao.
21/4 – Magny-Cours became the fourth circuit at which Ducati has had at least 20 wins, after Misano, Phillip Island and Assen.
21 – Bulega’s crash in Race 1 meant his run of 21 points-scoring races came to an end, although it is a new record for a rookie in their opening WorldSBK races. It also means that no rider has finished every race in 2024.
14 – BMW’s win streak was extended to 14 but halted during the Superpole Race by Nicolo Bulega.
11 – It had been nearly 11 years since WorldSBK had a race without Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha), Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) before Sunday, with Jerez Race 2, 2013. Some of the riders on the grid that day included Eugene Laverty, now part of the Bonovo Action BMW’s management, Marco Melandri, who has assisted Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) at points in 2024 and Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam, the most recent riders to have raced in WorldSBK – Donington Park and Imola last year respectively.
10 – A tenth career podium for Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in Race 2, becoming the 54th rider in history to reach that tally, leaving him currently tied with Simon Crafar and Max Neukirchner.
9 – Taking his ninth podium in WorldSBK, the #9 of Danilo Petrucci took just his second Superpole Race podium – immediately after his first Superpole Race podium last time out at Portimao.
6 – Six winners in a WorldSBK season for the first time since 2020, when there was seven with Razgatlioglu, Rea, Alex Lowes, Redding, Rinaldi, Davies and van der Mark. This year, it’s Bulega, Alex Lowes, Razgatlioglu, Bautista, Spinelli and van der Mark. The last year with seven winners was 2020
3/2 – Three BMW riders have been on the podium in 2024, their highest tally since they had four on the rostrum in 2012. It’s also been the first time that two BMW riders have won races in WorldSBK since 2013, when both Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri won.
1 – For the first time in his career, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) set a fastest lap, in Race 1.
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Source: WorldSBK.com