WorldSBK Donington Race Day Guide
Tissot-Superpole – Tom Sykes
• 26th career pole, tied with Troy Bayliss on the second all-time spot; only Troy Corser is ahead, with 43
• He has scored his third pole at Donington: only Carl Fogarty has started from pole position four times here, in four consecutive years, from 1992 to 1995
• He has won the last four races held at Donington: the only rider who has recorded such a sequence of victories at this track. In 2013, his wins came from pole
• He is in the best possible position to become one of the most successful riders at Donington: Carl Fogarty won six times here and Scott Russell five. With a double, he would equal his fellow countryman
2nd – Jonathan Rea
• 16th rider in history to record at least 30 front row starts: he is trailing Max Biaggi (32). This is his first front row start at the Donington track, on his sixth WorldSBK weekend here
• He has finished his last 11 races on the podium: should he finish on the podium in race 1, he would equal the fourth all-time string, recorded by two riders: Troy Bayliss (2002: Silverstone/1 – Assen/1) and Neil Hodgson (2003: Valencia/1 – Silverstone/2)
• He heads into Sunday on 23 wins: his next target is Carlos Checa on 24 (7th all-time spot)
• He has won the last four races in 2015; only four riders in history have scored six or more successive wins: Colin Edwards, Neil Hodgson, Troy Bayliss and Doug Polen
• He arrives at Donington on the back of two doubles, in Assen and Imola. He is in the position to enter a very restricted elite of riders who have claimed three consecutive doubles: Troy Bayliss in 2002 (Valencia, Phillip Island, Kyalami) and 2006 (Valencia, Monza, Silverstone); Doug Polen in 1991 (Misano, Anderstorp, Sugo). The riders who have claimed four consecutive doubles, the best string in history are: Hodgson in 2003 (Valencia, Phillip Island, Sugo, Monza); Edwards in 2002 (Brands Hatch, Oschersleben, Assen, Imola)
• So far this year, he has only finished either first or second (8 wins, 2 second places)
• For the first time in history, Kawasaki locks out the first two grid spots at Donington
3rd – Davide Giugliano
• For the first time in his career, he has recorded a string of five front row starts
• 18th career front row: he has now matched Jakub Smrz on the 26th all-time spot
• he is still searching for his first podium at this track; his best result is a fourth, recorded in the second races of the last two years
4th – Leon Haslam
• With fourth on the grid, Haslam qualifies in the top five as he has done at every event so far this year: pole at Aragon, second at Buriram, third at Phillip Island and Assen and fifth at Imola
• In every race he has finished so far this year, Haslam has never crossed the line any lower than in fourth position; his only non-finish to date was his crash in the second race at Imola
• Leon Camier has recorded his first top 10 grid position start for MV Agusta, qualifying seventh, and this his first top 10 grid spot since Jerez 2013, when he was also seventh on the grid. It is also the third time he starts seventh at Donington out of six race weekends here
• Matteo Baiocco is back in the top 10 (8th) for the first time since the opening race of the season (10th)
• For the first time this year, reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli (9th) has outqualified his young team-mate Michael van der Mark (12th) who, in turn, has recorded his worst showing of the season in Superpole
• For the first time in his career, David Salom (10th) has recorded back-to-back top 10 grid appearances
• For the first time in his short WorldSBK career, Jordi Torres misses out on a top 10 grid spot (13th). Previously, he had always qualified between fifth and eighth.
