It’s been four years since the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship visited Imola and quite a lot has changed since. Not the track though, with the layout remaining the same, although the riders, bikes and even tyres are all fairly different. That makes it quite difficult to predict what will happen or to even give any meaningful insight, but the information we have from past seasons does make for interesting reading. The pre-round stats for Imola’s highly-anticipated return have landed!
300 – The only riders who scored more than 300 points at Imola are Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) with 349 and Tom Sykes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) with 303.
100 – With three podiums at Donington Park, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) ended up at 99, 10 short of the 5th all-time spot held by Carl Fogarty, and just one to hit the milestone of 100. He’s currently tied with Chaz Davies. Ahead of him, in the all-time standing: Jonathan Rea 251; Troy Corser 130; Noriyuki Haga 116; Tom Sykes 114; Carl Fogarty 109.
59 – In 2018’s Race 2, Rea equalled the legendary tally of all-time WorldSBK wins held by Carl Fogarty: 59. Since then, he has increased his tally to 118, the double of Fogarty, an all-time record.
50 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) is in a position to become the fourth rider in WorldSBK history with 50 wins; the others are Rea on 118, Carl Fogarty on 59 and Troy Bayliss at 52.
26 – 26 wins out of 33 at Imola came from the front row of the starting grid.
18 – Yamaha is on its best podium streak ever, 18.
17 – Ducati is the most successful manufacturer at their home track, with one more win than the sum of its rivals: 17 wins, with Kawasaki following at eight, Honda at seven and Aprilia at one.
14-12 – Ex-teammates Rea and Sykes are record holders for Imola rostrums: 14 for Rea, 12 for Sykes.
14/5 – The last 14 races held here were all won by British riders (Sykes, Rea, Davies): a remarkable record for just one country at Imola, started ten years ago with a double by Sykes. Also, on five occasions, the Imola podium was composed only by British riders.
13 – Rea finished his last 13 races at Imola in either first or second place.
13 – 13 years ago, Tom Sykes recorded his maiden career pole at Imola: 50 more followed, to make him the all-time leader for poles in WorldSBK history.
12 – So far, 12 different riders take pole out of 17 race weekends at Imola. The only riders with more than one pole that are on the current grid are Sykes with three and Rea with two.
5 – Rea is in position to become the first rider with five straight wins at Imola. At the moment, he shares his streak of four (2014-2015 and 2018-2019) with Chaz Davies (2016-2017).
1 – Six-time Champion Rea is the only rider with four consecutive wins at Imola across two different manufacturers: Honda (2014) and Kawasaki (2015).
0.021 seconds – This is the smallest margin for a win at Imola, coming from 2001 Race 2, between Regis Laconi –his maiden win and podium appearance – and Ruben Xaus. Xaus took revenge two years later, beating Laconi with the biggest win margin at Imola in WorldSBK: 12.038s in Race 2.
SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK
2019 race winners:
- Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki, Race 1 and Superpole Race)
Last three pole-sitters at Imola:
- 2019: Chaz Davies (Ducati) 1’45.180
- 2018: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’45.797
- 2017: Chaz Davies (Ducati) 1’45.662
Manufacturer podium places accumulated from all races at Imola (and wins):
- Ducati: 43 (17)
- Kawasaki: 23 (8)
- Honda: 13 (7)
- Aprilia: 12 (1)
- Suzuki: 3
- Yamaha: 3
- BMW: 2
Key gaps from Imola 2019:
- Front row covered by: 0.901s
- 1 second in Superpole covered… the top three: 0.901s
- Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 2.141s (Rea 1st, Davies 2nd Superpole Race)
- Closest race podium: 6.864s (Rea 1st, Davies 2nd, Bautista 3rd, Superpole Race)
- Closest Imola podium of all-time: 0.844s (Laconi 1st, Xaus 2nd, Okada 3rd, Race 2, 2001)
Manufacturer top speeds at Imola, 2019:
- Ducati: Chaz Davies – 286.6 km/h, FP3 and Superpole Race
- Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea – 284.4 km/h, Superpole Race
- BMW: Markus Reiterberger – 282.9 km/h, FP3
- Yamaha: Alex Lowes – 279.9 km/h, FP2
- Honda: Leon Camier – 274.9 km/h, FP2
Watch all of the 2023 Superbike season take-shape round-by-round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
Source: WorldSBK.com