So, this is it then; after 11 rounds, 33 races, countless battles and head-to-head final lap showdowns, the title decider has arrived. The Prometeon Spanish Round from the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto has a history of crowning Champions and 2023 will be no different. However, statistical stories are never far away and there’s plenty to look out for this weekend too.
116/119 – Yamaha are at their third chance to equal Honda for wins. Yamaha have 116, Honda at 119, the latter occupying the third all-time place. The top two are Ducati (417) and Kawasaki (178).
96 – With three starts, Loris Baz will (Bonovo Action BMW) equals the record of races run for BMW, 96, held by Tom Sykes.
59 – After becoming the most successful Ducati rider at Portimao, passing Carl Fogarty, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) can take the 2nd all-time spot for wins, held by Fogarty at 59. With 56, he needs a triple to achieve this.
37 – In four Yamaha years, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) set records for the brand: most wins (37, Noriyuki Haga 27), podiums (98, Haga 71), poles (12, Ben Spies 11).
34 – If Toprak takes three podiums, he’ll equal the season record of 34 set by Jonathan Rea in 2019.
28 – In 2019, Jerez became the 28th track that Yamaha won at. The 27th track had been Silverstone, nine years earlier, when Cal Crutchlow achieved a double. At the moment, they’ve won at 34.
19 – On 19 now, Ducati can become the first manufacturer with 20 Jerez podiums. There’s a chance also for their best competitors, Kawasaki, at 16.
18 – Razgatlioglu has finished 2nd 18 times, a new season record, beating the 16 of Jonathan Rea in 2019. The rival for them is common: Bautista. In 2019, Rea was second to him 12 times, this year, the Turk 16.
9 – Only one win here didn’t come from the first six grid places: that was Jonathan Rea, winning from 9th in 2017, Race 2.
9 – Ducati is the most successful manufacturer with nine wins at Jerez.
8 – The last eight wins here (starting from 2019) came only from the first two positions on the grid.
8/9 – Eight years out of nine, we had a rider winning twice at Jerez: 1990 (Roche); 2013 (Laverty); 2014 (Melandri); 2016 (Davies); 2017 (Rea); 2019 (Bautista: Race 1 and Superpole Race); 2020 (Redding: Race 1 and 2); 2021 (Razgatlioglu).
7 – Seven wins for Razgatlioglu in 2023 so far, his lowest amount in the last three “full” seasons (since 2021). He won three races in 2020. Even with a triple, ten will be his worst tally at Yamaha since 2020 (13 wins in 2021, 14 wins in 2022).
4 – The best winning streak at this track belongs to Aprilia: four from 2013 to 2014. Yamaha can match and surpass that this weekend.
3-3 – It’s a tie for the most successful rider at Jerez: Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies, three wins each.
2 – Bautista is set to be the first back-to-back Riders’ Champion for Ducati since Fogarty in 1998 and 1999. It will also be the first time since 1999 that a Ducati rider with the #1 has taken the title.
1 – BMW only have one podium at Jerez, courtesy of Marco Melandri’s P2 in 2013’s Race 1. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) has had three fourth-place finishes in the last three rounds; he took his first WorldSBK top ten at Jerez with P8 in 2020’s Superpole Race.
SHORTHAND NOTEBOOK
2021 race winners:
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, Race 1 and Race 2)
Last three pole-sitters at Jerez:
- 2021: Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’38.512
- 2020: Scott Redding (Ducati) 1’38.736
- 2019: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’38.247
Manufacturer podium places (and wins) from all WorldSBK races at Jerez:
- Ducati: 19 (9)
- Kawasaki: 16 (4)
- Yamaha: 10 (3)
- Aprilia: 9 (4)
- Honda: 5
- BMW: 1
Key gaps from Jerez in 2021:
- Front row covered by: 0.102s
- 1 second in Superpole covered… the top 8: 0.911s
- Closest race gap between 1st and 2nd: 0.113s (Razgatlioglu 1st, Redding 2nd, Superpole Race)
- Closest race podium: 2.155s (Razgatlioglu 1st, Rea 2nd, Redding 3rd, Race 1)
Manufacturer top speeds at Jerez in 2021:
- Honda: Alvaro Bautista – 290.3km/h, Superpole
- Ducati: Chaz Davies – 287.2 km/h, Race 1
- Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea – 284.9 km/h, Superpole
- Yamaha: Toprak Razgatlioglu – 284.9 km/h, Race 1
- BMW: Tom Sykes – 281.2 km/h, FP3, Superpole and Race 1
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Source: WorldSBK.com