FORM GUIDE: Bulega chases a Bautista record, Italy set for 160th WorldSBK race
With a new venue for WorldSBK, the form guide is limited but there are still some key numbers to look at head of the round…
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads to a new venue for the 2024 Acerbis Italian Round as the Cremona Circuit hosts WorldSBK action for the first time. It means that any form guide about the track itself has limited information but there are still key numbers that could provide insight into the round, with some milestones coming up. Check out some key numbers below.
268 – In his next start, Michael van der Mark will equal Chaz Davies in eighth in the all-time list (268 starts).
160 – With two races run in Cremona, the total number of races on Italian soil will go up to 160.
71 – Toprak Razgatlioglu’s partnership with BMW is running at record pace. His forced stop in Magny- Cours has kept his record numbers “frozen”. He has won 15 races out of 21 so far (71,4%). Among the riders who raced at least 20 times for a manufacturer, his best rival is Ben Spies with Yamaha: 14 out of 28 (50%). Doug Polen (26/54, 48,1%) and Alvaro Bautista (61/131, 46,5%) follow for Ducati.
54/59 – Current bike #54 counts 54 WorldSBK wins and while Carl Fogarty is temporarily out of reach at Cremona (59 wins: 3rd all-time spot), the countdown is on!
53 – Cremona is the 53rd track in WorldSBK history. It follows Navarra, Most and Mandalika, all introduced in 2021.
29/32 – Countdown time for BMW: 29 wins so far, three shy of 6th in the all-time list held by Suzuki.
22/25/16 – Jonathan Rea holds the record for most wins at a new circuit, with 22, although he won’t be able to extend that at Cremona. He also holds it for podiums and poles, with 25 and 16 respectively. The next best on the 2024 grid is Alvaro Bautista, with 15 wins, 16 podiums and 8 poles.
11/20 – Nicolo Bulega has passed the halfway mark towards the record of second places in a season: he counts 11 now, with his title rival Razgatlioglu holding the record at 20, set last year. The second all- time value is 16 by Jonathan Rea in 2019, the third is 12 (Scott Russell 1993; Alvaro Bautista 2022). Curiously, the weekends in which he won at least one race (Phillip Island, Magny-Cours) are the only ones in which he didn’t finish 2nd in any race.
9/10 – Of the 10 podiums Razgatlioglu and Bulega have shared, they have finished 1-2 in nine of them with Razgatlioglu winning.
7 – Cremona is the 7th Italian track in history. It follows: Pergusa (2 races in 1989); Monza (43 races from 1990 to 2013); Misano (67 races from 1991 to 2024); Mugello (6 races from 1991 to 1994); Imola (36 races from 2001 to 2023); Vallelunga (4 races in 2007 and 2008). Italy thus reaches Spain for the highest number of tracks used in the history of the Championship. The Spanish tracks are Jerez, Jarama, Albacete, Valencia, Aragon, Barcelona, Navarra.
3 – When Bulega has claimed victory in WorldSBK, Razgatlioglu hasn’t been on the podium (Australia Race 1, Magny-Cours Superpole Race and Race 2).
3 – Bulega is aiming to be the first rookie to win three consecutive races since teammate Bautista did in 2019.
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