A heroic Tissot Aragon Round concluded the tenth round of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, with MotorLand Aragon once again delivering a spectacular event. Records are always on the horizon, with history being made once again just a stone’s throw from the quaint old town of Alcaniz. So, strap yourself down for a overview of all the big numbers hit this weekend.
2000 – After leading the opening lap of the Tissot Superpole Race, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) clocked his 2000th led lap in WorldSBK and finished the weekend with 2009 led, the first rider to hit such a milestone in WorldSBK. In fact, it’s more than anyone in MotoGP™/500cc Grand Prix too, albeit there’s been more races in WorldSBK to allow that to happen.
540/420 – Rea’s podium in the Superpole Race was the 540th podium place for Kawasaki in WorldSBK and the 420thdifferent podium they’ve had representation on.
115 vs 107 – Scott Redding’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) difficult Aragon means he is now just eight points ahead of 2024 teammate Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) in the battle to be top BMW. Five top ten results in six races for Gerloff, whilst Redding has only had two in seven.
110/28 – Toprak Razgatlioglu has 110 podiums in WorldSBK, one more than four-time World Champion Carl Fogarty. 28 podiums is one short of his best of 29, which was set in 2022 and 2021.
90 – Bautista’s win in Race 2 at Aragon was the 90th for Spain. In the Superpole Race, he gave Spain a 200th podium in WorldSBK.
73 – 73 races – two years and four days – since his last victory, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was back on the top step of the podium. This is the second-longest wait in terms of races to win again, after Leon Haslam had to wait for 113 between 2010 and 2015.
53/3 – With 53 wins, Alvaro Bautista is now inside the top three of the overall winners in WorldSBK history. Jonathan Rea on 119 and Carl Fogarty on 59 are ahead of him. All his wins came for Ducati, meaning he’s just three shy of Foggy’s Ducati tally.
43 – Jonathan Rea took his 43rd pole position, equalling the original ‘Mr Superpole’ Troy Corser.
38 – In the Superpole Race, it was the 38th time that Bautista, Rea and Razgatlioglu share a rostrum.
25 – 25 consecutive races on the podium for Rea at Aragon came to an end when he was fourth in Race 2. This was the first time in his entire stint with Kawasaki that he didn’t feature on the Aragon podium.
22/8 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s podium in Race 2 was the 22nd of his career and the eighth of 2023, the most he’s enjoyed in a single season. All his podiums came with Ducati, so he’s just one short of Marco Melandri’s tally of 23 with the manufacturer and three short of Giancarlo Falappa’s 25.
20 – 20 wins for Bautista in 2023; this tally on its own would put him in 16th of the all-time win charts. With P2 on the grid, Bautista also had his 20th front row start for Ducati, the same as 2019 teammate Chaz Davies achieved. He’s one behind Italian Davide Guigliano.
14 – A run of 14 points-scoring finishes and top ten results for Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was ended in the Superpole Race at Aragon, when he couldn’t crack the top nine from the back of the grid, finishing 12th.
6 – Two top six finishes in one weekend for Iker Lecuona (Team HRC), the first time since Barcelona that he achieved that.
5 – 5 wins for Ducati for Rinaldi, who matches the tally of 2004 World Champion James Toseland and 1996 rookie John Kocinski.
0.475s – The closest WorldSBK race podium at Aragon on this layout (2015 onwards) came in the Superpole Race, when Bautista beat Rea and Razgatlioglu, all covered by just 0.475s.
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Source: WorldSBK.com