What was the most treacherous corner of the 2019 WorldSBK season?

The Melbourne Loop at Donington Park and the Adelaide Hairpin at Magny-Cours have been listed as the most treacherously tricky corners on the 2019 WorldSBK and support programme calendar, according to official data from the series.

Dorna submitted its annual report on falls and medical interventions across the entire 2019 WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP 300 Championships, revealing figures that show which circuits and corners saw the most incidents and which riders were more prone to accidents.

In all, the 2019 season saw a massive 564 accidents over the course of the year, which is calculated as a rider coming off its back, rather than simply being off course and staying upright. This covers each track session for all three championships though only WorldSBK raced at all 13 circuits, with WorldSSP covering 12 circuits.

Of note, the WorldSSP 300’s figures are skewed slightly by the fact there are upwards of 50 riders competing over a weekend. That said, it did account for the vast majority of incidents despite only visiting nine venues over the course of the year.

In all, WorldSSP 300 accounted for 278 accidents over the course of the year, compared with WorldSBK’s 132 and WorldSSP’s 154.

Which circuits saw the most WorldSBK crashes?

Overall, Magny-Cours saw the most crashes over the course of a weekend – a cross-class total of 81 accidents – though this can partly be explained by Friday and the start of Saturday being adversely affected by rainy conditions.

However, in a WorldSBK context the most treacherous event was Misano with 26 crashes in that class alone, which is significantly more than the next highest total of 15 incidents at Donington Park.

Broken down into corners, the hard-braking tight right-hand hairpin at Magny-Cours – named Adelaide – was scene of the highest number of accidents across the year with 19 riders coming down over the course of a race weekend. This includes Michael van der Mark, who fell from the lead in race one here.

Just behind this is the Melbourne Loop at Donington Park – another hairpin – though this statistic is swelled by the huge oil-slick pile-up in the Superpole Race that eliminated four riders in one go and another in Tom Sykes on the cool down lap.

Turn 14 at Misano saw 16 crashes on a weekend, while Dry Sack at the end of the long straight in Jerez also saw 14 incidents.

Which circuit saw the least number of crashes in WorldSBK 2019?

Perhaps the most surprising statistic to come from this data was the track that led to the least number of accidents was the the Circuito San Juan Villicum.

The Argentine venue prompted a mutiny over what several riders – including Chaz Davies, Eugene Laverty and Leon Camier – considered to be unsafe track conditions because of oil seeping through the dusty surface.

While this can be justified as riders refusing to push hard in practice on the slippery track, it led to only three crashes in the WorldSBK class, the smallest number on the entire calendar ahead of Thailand on four.

The Statistics - 2019 WorldSBK Falls by Circuit