The current leader of the WSBK championship Alvaro Bautista is the first to recognize that this stage in Donington which will begin this Friday will not be his cup of tea, despite it being organized in an English garden. The statistics give him every reason to worry since since 2011 no Spaniard nor any Ducati has won on this track. It was then the Carlos Checa-1198 couple, a vintage which is also that of the last drivers' title brought back to Borgo Panigale in the category reserved for motorcycles from the series...
On the other hand, the stage premises Jonathan Rhea will count on this local deadline for him to close the gap of 36 points which separates him from the championship leader at the Panigale V4R.
Here are all the figures from the British scene.
1988 – In 1988, the Donington track hosted the first round of the championship on April 3, where victories were taken by Davide Tardozzi (Bimota) and Marco Lucchinelli (Ducati).
1 000-500 – Ducati et Kawasaki are close to two historic milestones that could be reached over the weekend. Ducati is in fact two podiums away from the 1, while only one is missing from Kawasaki to reach 500.
54 – In the 58 races held at Donington Park, Ducati has 54 podiums. Kawasaki is rather 48. Note that during the last three rounds contested in the United Kingdom, the Reds missed the podium twice, namely in 2018 and 2021.
26 – 26 different winners in 58 races contested at Donington: the most successful driver is Tom Sykes with 9 victories followed by Carl Fogarty et Jonathan Rhea with 6.
Ducati hasn't won at Donington since 2011
24 – British drivers have won 24 races at this track: in 2018, Michael van der Mark ended a series of 11 victories for British pilots.
22 - Alvaro Bautista currently has 22 victories with Ducati. At 23, he will join the 1990 world champion Raymond Roche.
17 - Tom Sykes claims the record for podiums on this track: 17 including 13 consecutive from Race 1 in 2012 to Race 1 in 2018.
15-13 - Ducati has won 15 poles at Donington Park: all other manufacturers have a total of 13.
10 – Record series by a manufacturer at Donington Park belongs to Kawasaki, who from 2013 to 2017 won all ten races held on the British track.
7 - Tom Sykes holds the record for pole position at Donington: seven.
1 – Donington Park in 2018 was also the scene of the first Dutch victory: thanks to van der Mark in Race 1. Only one victory for Spain on the English track, namely that of Carlos Checa in 2011 in Race 2: it is also for Ducati the last victory on the English circuit in WSBK.
