Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) – while BMW stumbled in the second WSBK season after their factory return, the little Spaniard took the first podium on the brand new CBR-1000RR-R SP in Aragon in the 4th round of the World Championship.

Some numbers ahead of the WorldSBK season opener

Perhaps the most important of all numbers at the moment is 99 and this has absolutely nothing to do with Jorge Lorenzo. It’s the number of wins for Jonathan Rea in WorldSBK. Here is a brief overview of the most important stages of the Northern Irish up to this incredible brand:

  • In the 526th WSBK race 2009, World Championship round 8 in Misano in Race 2 the 1st victory, Honda CBR1000RR (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda).
  • Races 545 + 546, 2010, round 4 in Assen – the first double victory in the second year for Ten Kate Honda.
  • In the 660th WSBK race, 2014, round 8 in Portimão – the 15th and final victory for the Pata Honda Team (Ten Kate).
  • Race 669, season opener 2015, 1st round in Phillip Island – the first victory on a Kawasaki ZX-10R (Kawasaki Racing Team).
  • This season 14 wins for Kawasaki, making a total of 29 and first world title.
  • World Champion with 9 victories in 2016 for KRT on a Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja, a total of 38 and ranked 4th on the list of best
  • 3-time world champion 2017 with 16 wins for KRT, on a Kawasaki ZX-10RR, now with a total of 54 wins behind Fogarty on P2.
  • In the 756th race in history, 2018, lap 5 in Imola in the 2nd race: Equalization of Foggy record with 59 victories.
  • 4th World Championship title with 17 victories in 2018 for KRT, thus equalizing Doug Poland’s record of 1991, ahead of Fogarty on P1.
  • Title number 5 with another 17 wins in 2019 for KRT (after the introduction of the SP-Race), a total of 88 wins.
  • Only 8 instead of the usual 13 world championship rounds, with a 6th world title in 2020, with 11 wins and a total of 99.
The visor on his helmet is on our mantelpiece today – Jonathan Rea after his first win of the season in 2019 after the first run in Imola, his most challenging season to date. A good 10 minutes after we took this photo, he handed it to us.

MotoGP’s switchers in WorldSBK – the tops and flops
Alvaro Bautista can clearly be classified as the top after he was the first to leave Jonathan Rea as Kawasaki rider behind him eleven times in a row from the start of the 2019 season. It should be noted, however, that he benefited from a top speed advantage of around 20 to 25 km / h on the MotoGP Replica Panigale V4R. But as runner-up world champion he was undisputedly very good and also clearly beat his teammate Chaz Davies as the previous leader at Aruba.it Ducati. The same applies to Scott Redding, but he had made the detour via the BSB before he also eclipsed Davies as the successor to Alvaro.

In 2019 there was the same winner in all 3 races – here photographed by us in Motorland Aragon at the beginning of April, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati). The Spaniard had then won 9 races in a row and yet the maximum permitted revolutions of his Panigale V4R was only reduced by the FIM by a ridiculous 250 rpm to still over 16,000. At the end of the 2019 season, he had 16 wins.

The best of the previous years
The best of all those coming out of MotoGP was Max Biaggi anyway, with 2 titles (2010, 2012) and 21 victories in 6 years at WorldSBK. Behind them is Carlos Checa (also 6 years WSBK) as a 24-time winner and 2011 champion. Sylvain Guintoli won the title in 2014 and won 9 times. Marco Melandri won 22 races and was runner-up in 7 years. Fonsi Nieto finished fifth in the 2008 World Championship on a Suzuki and won at least once. Just like Alex Barros on a Honda two years earlier with a sixth place in the championship and one win. Even better, Régis Laconi as vice world champion 2004 and a total of 11 times winner of the near-series world championship. And last, but not least, his compatriot Raymond Roche, the first world champion for Ducati in the 1990 season.

Raymond Roche was the first successful switch from MotoGP when he won the first title in the Superbike World Championship for Ducati in 1990. Had it not been for the US team Fast by Ferracci with the outstanding Doug Polen in the SBK in the following year and had embarrassed the Reds’ works team in the process, the fast Frenchman would certainly have defended his title in 1991. But the US boy was the first private driver to win the title with 17 victories and there are said to be persistent ones who mistakenly declare him a works’ rider.

The less successful with a tragic fate as the former
With just one win on the defeated Honda, Nicky Hayden would certainly have achieved more after just over a season without his fatal accident, had he been there for longer. However, the Frenchman Randy de Puniet really failed, with 18th place in the World Championship in 2015 and a 7th place as the best result. Similar to Stefan Bradl, as Hayden’s teammate in 2017 as fourteenth in the World Championship and P6 as the best race placement. Makoto Tamada also disappointed in 2008 as a switch and in 20th place in the World Championship and a 9th place as the best performance, but before that he had even won wildcards at the Japan race. Therefore, it is the borderline case, because only in its full season remained below expectations. For this, Karel Abraham must be counted among the flops. The Czech only finished eighteenth in the 2016 World Championship and, like the Japanese, never finished 9th in the race.

Makoto Tamada on the Cabin Honda as the winner of the home race with a wildcard – in 2001 the fast Japanese won a one-two and a year later, together with his colleague Colin Edwards, the overall victory with a triumph and a 2nd place each. For more on the earlier years of WorldSBK, see our richly illustrated history.

The next from MotoGP – Esteve “Tito” Rabat

As the reigning WSBK Vice World Champion, Scott Redding looks back on a Grand Prix past in which he was at the same level in Moto2 in 2013. When the Englishman switched to MotoGP the following year, Tito Rabat even rose one position and took the title of Moto2 World Champion. But in the premier class, the Catalans then unfortunately suffered a bit too often, similar to Redding. With a very good bike, you will have to wait and see how the son of a jeweller from Barcelona will adapt to the Superbike World Championship. Over the race distance, we can very well imagine that Tito can finish in the top ten or even the top five. For him, on the other hand, the question is more whether he has the speed over a single lap in Superpole to qualify for a good starting position.

Tito Rabat at the Aragon test on the Barni Ducati – his compatriot Alvaro Bautista predicts a successful future for the “Marathon Man” as a WorldSBK rookie. In the MotoGP at Le Mans, under the most difficult conditions, he took a point as a substitute driver for the injured Jorge Martin.

Winner of the last Aragon round of 2020 (the first and so far only double weekend of the WSBK):
· Jonathan Rea, 3 wins (Tissot Superpole Race and Race 2 Aragon Round, Race 2 Teruel Round).
· Scott Redding, 2 wins (Race 1 Aragon Round and SP Race Teruel Round).
· Michael Ruben Rinaldi, 1 win (race 1 Teruel lap)

Last 5 Aragon Pole-Setters:
2020 Teruel – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki): 1’48.767 (official lap record)
2020 Aragon – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki): 1’48.860
2019 – Alvaro Bautista (Ducati): 1’49.049
2018 – Marco Melandri (Ducati): 1’49.543
2017 – Chaz Davies (Ducati): 1’49.319

First race of the 2nd Aragon weekend 2020 with the crash of Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati), while Jonathan Rea finished the race ahead of Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda), finished second and significantly increased the gap in the world championship.

Podiums by manufacturers of previous races in Aragon:
Ducati: 28
Kawasaki: 16
Aprilia: 10
BMW: 5

Points by drivers in Motorland Aragon since the 2015 season

With 7 wins, Chaz Davies (Ducati) leads ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) with their 6 in Aragon. This means that the Kawasaki driver may be able to catch up with the Welshman at the start of the season or even overtake him.
Alex Lowes during the test in Aragon on the brand-new Kawasaki ZX-10RR – after the “castration” of the new wonder weapon through a more than questionable new speed limit, the Englishman will be clearly disadvantaged compared to Ducati, BMW and Honda. But Kawasaki can be trusted that they can still put together a podium-capable package in Aragon (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

More interesting numbers ahead of the season opener

  • With 17 wins in Aragon, the British are ahead of the statistics. Five times an Italian and three times a Spaniard.
  • Eugene Laverty is still 3 starts missing in WorldSBK before he drives his 200th race. Rea reached this mark in Assen in 2017.
  • 11: 8 it stands for Ducati in the number of victories in Aragon against Kawasaki. In the previous year both had 3.
  • Jonathan Rea has been on the podium in all 17 races since he started racing for Kawasaki in 2015, including 6 top spots.
  • In the last 19 races in Aragon, either a Ducati or a Kawasaki always won.
  • After the last 20 races in Motorland, at least one Kawasaki was on the podium in Aragon.
  • Ducati’s 350th front row is approaching after the current mark is 349.
  • Chaz Davies is still missing two podiums before he reaches 100, as the 6th driver in history.
  • Jonathan Rea was still missing two best race laps before he was the first driver to reach the number 80.
  • Former teammates Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea were in row 1 in exactly 85 races each.
Turn 2 in the foreground, photographed by us from the roof of the Aragon pit building, with the large grandstands in the infield of the track behind. The second curve is the first on the right after a lot of straight ahead and only left turns and therefore very dangerous. Before that, the right flank of the tire threatens to cool down, which is why many drivers in all classes have already crashed here. For example, Alex Marquez also got it here on the 2nd weekend in 2020 after finishing second in the 1st race.

>Aragon preview: see separate report on this page.

When flags drops – the bullshit stops, so the rule of thumb about hasty predictions and all the sometimes pointless speculations in the breaks until the next race. Toprak Razgatlioglu does not have great expectations of Aragon, with podium places the Turk would already be satisfied.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).