The walls of the Borgo Panigale factory resonated with jubilation and celebration with a celebration organized in honor of the division Superbike. It must be said that with eleven successes in as many races, there is enough to bring out the champagne. But this avalanche of victories has revealed a great statistic which could, by the end of this season, be embellished with other achievements...
At the Ducati factory in Borgo Panigale, the two official Superbike riders celebrated with all the employees of the Bologna-based company the prestigious goal of 350 victories in the Superbike World Championship, achieved during the third race in Aragón in Spain on April 7. It is at Alvaro Bautista who had the honor of reaching this summit. The 34-year-old rider from Talavera de la Reina (Spain), who made his debut in the WSBK championship reserved for motorcycles derived from the series, dominates this first part of the 2019 season, with 11 consecutive victories on the new Ducati Panigale V4 R.
His teammate in the Aruba.it Racing team was also present. Chaz Davies claims 25 of the 350 victories on Ducati It was with the twin cylinder of the Panigale R. The singular fact is that the 350th victory of Baptist occurred exactly 31 years after Ducati's first World Superbike success, which dates back to April 3, 1988, the date on which Marco Lucchinelli had won race 2 at Donington on the Ducati 851.
Last Sunday, Ducati reached the score of 352, with two victories of Baptist in Assen in the Netherlands. Álvaro's bike derives strictly from the Panigale V4, the production bike that Ducati developed thanks to the experience accumulated over 15 years of MotoGP. The Superbike model is the R version of the Panigale V4 which, with its 221 hp, is the most powerful sports car on the market.
By the way, Ducati has never been crowned in the same year in both the WSBK and MotoGP Championships. Troy bayliss brought back the crown to the Italian manufacturer in 2006, then in 2008, while Casey Stoner won the title in 2007 with the GP7. So why not this year?
