In what was quite a remarkable opening round of the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round gave massive headlines and an abundance of stories. However, when delving deeper, there are some highly interesting stats too, whether it’s numbers adding up, a new circuit top speed record or an emphasis in just how impactful the ‘new era’ is being. Check them all out below!
2101 – For the first time since they’ve raced together, Jonathan Rea, Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu didn’t win a race during a WorldSBK weekend. In fact, the last time that a weekend went fully without one of them winning was in 2018 at Donington Park, when Michael van der Mark took a double win for Yamaha, a gap of 2101 days.
335.4kph – Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) set a new top speed record for the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in WorldSBK at 335.4kph.
199 – With Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) taking tenth in Race 2, Yamaha have a 199-race streak of consecutive points-scoring, meaning they’re one away in Barcelona from 200. The last time they didn’t score points was Lusail 2017, when no Yamaha finished. The last time Paul Denning’s outfit didn’t achieve points was Misano Race 1, 2019, when Alex Lowes crashed from the podium and Michael van der Mark didn’t start due to a Free Practice crash.
182.015kph – With a maiden pole, Nicolo Bulega’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the first lap time ever in the 1’27 bracket in WorldSBK at Phillip Island – with a 1’27.916 and an average speed of 182.015kph (113.098mph).
180 – A fourth career win, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) gave Kawasaki their 180th.
116 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took a 116th podium of his career in the Superpole Race, matching the all-time third-place tally set by Noriyuki Haga.
90 – For the first time in all races at Phillip Island with Ducati, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) failed to win.
79 – Nicolo Bulega became the 79th different winner in WorldSBK history. Of those 79 winners, 46 have been winners from pole position and 16 of them had their first win come from pole position. However, only two have been able to take a debut pole position and convert into a win in their first race: John Kocinski and now, Nicolo Bulega.
71 – Bulega became the 71st rider in WorldSBK history to achieve pole.
50 – Lowes’ 50 points to lead the Championship is not only the lowest amount during the three-race era but it’s the lowest tally since 1992, when Raymond Roche led the Championship with 49 points – albeit the points-scoring system was also different then, with only 20 available for a win.
31 – For the first time in 31 years, there was an Italian 1-2 on the grid after Superpole with both on Ducatis: the last time was Misano 1993 when it was Mauro Lucchiari and Giancarlo Falappa. The last Italian 1-2 in general was 11 years ago with Ayrton Badovini on Ducati and Marco Melandri on BMW at the Nurburgring.
29 – On 29 points, the #29 of Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) returned to World Championship action with a bang. He was also the 29th rider to achieve a front row in MotoGP™ and WorldSBK and whilst finishing third in Race 1, he stood on a podium next to the 29th different winner at Phillip Island, Bulega. With his Anthony Gobert tribute helmet from 2000, Gobert’s last win – using that helmet style – was with a margin of 29 seconds at Phillip Island.
27 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has just 27 points after the first three races of the WorldSBK season; this is his worst tally with Ducati and his third-worst in WorldSBK after scoring just eight after Round 1 of 2021 and 20 in 2020, both times with Honda.
19 – There have been 19 races at Phillip Island decided by less than a tenth of a second after Lowes defeated Bautista in Race 2 by 0.048s.
14 – Andrea Locatelli’s (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) crash in Race 2 from a top three finish means Yamaha’s streak of 14 consecutive races on the podium comes to an end.
11 – A Ducati rider with the #11 has won a race in WorldSBK for the first time since Magny-Cours Race 2 in 2003 by Ruben Xaus – who ironically won 11 WorldSBK races.
11 – Bulega became the 11th rider to win in both WorldSSP and WorldSBK and was the first to set back-to-back poles in WorldSSP and WorldSBK.
7 – Seven different riders on the podium in WorldSBK is a joint-record after the first three races. Other years include 1991, 1992, 2000 and 2004. Across the round, it was: Bulega, Locatelli, Iannone, Alex Lowes, Razgatlioglu, Bautista and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team).
4 – Four races without a single point, the first time ever for Jonathan Rea (excluding injuries).
4 – Danilo Petrucci became the 83rd rider in WorldSBK to achieve four podiums. The last rider to manage it was Nicky Hayden in 2016 for Honda.
4 – Toprak became the fourth rider for BMW to score a podium from their first three starts.
4 – Four manufacturers took a podium in WorldSBK across the opening three races, the first time since 2014 when Suzuki, Aprilia, Kawasaki and Honda featured on the box.
2 – For the first time in nearly two years, a Kawasaki rider leads the World Championship; the last time was Jonathan Rea after the Superpole Race at Assen.
1 – After Superpole, history was made: in their debut weekends, Bulega and Iannone made it the first time ever that rookies had qualified 1-2 in their maiden weekend.
1 – Razgatlioglu is the first rider to achieve a podium for Kawasaki, Yamaha and BMW.
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Source: WorldSBK.com