#AUSWorldSBK: Which manufacturer has been the most successful at the Australian round?
With 27 victories and 11 pole positions at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Ducati is the most successful manufacturer. In 2019, Ducati recorded three podiums at the Australia round with former MotoGPTM star Álvaro Bautista (now at Team HRC) winning the first three races of the season. These brilliant results reinforced the domination of the Italian factory at the iconic circuit.
Despite its competitor’s success, Kawasaki is the second most successful manufacturer at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. In 2019, the Japanese brand got the pole position with a time of 1’29.573s thanks to the five-time reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). They even reached their first one-two at Phillip Island as Leon Haslam (now at Team HRC) scored second position during Superpole. With 10 wins and eight pole positions in Phillip Island, Kawasaki will be aiming to get their first win in Australia since 2018.
Yamaha has won five times and scored three pole positions at Phillip Island. The last win was achieved 11 years ago in Race 2 thanks to Ben Spies, who also secured pole position that weekend. In 2019, they achieved another podium with Marco Melandri who secured third position in Race 1.
Honda’s last win was in 2007 with James Toseland. They have picked up four wins at Phillip Island and two pole positions. Their last podium finish came in 2016 when Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) was third in Race 1 and second in Race 2. Last year their best result was scored by Leon Camier (now at the Barni Racing Team) who was tenth in Tissot Superpole Race.
BMW made its return to the WorldSBK Championship in 2019 and achieved a seventh position scored by Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) as its best result at Phillip Island.
Will Ducati extend its domination at Phillip Island this weekend at the Yamaha Finance Australian Round? Find out when the lights go out on Friday morning to kick off the 2020 season.