Rea, protagonist in Magny-Cours for an incident with Bautista

The WorldSBK riders started the weekend at the French circuit of Nevers Magny-Cours under a cloudy sky that, very soon, gave way to a few drops of rain that, little by little, intensified until heavier rains appeared shortly after for the first session of the day to begin. These conditions helped some riders, while others were hurt from the start. Rain continued to fall on the race track for part of FP2, where a red flag forced the session to be halted due to some debris lying on the track, making conditions unsafe to race.

FP2 ended with Jonathan Rea as the fastest rider in the session, riding confidently in the slippery conditions he encountered. For his part, Alex Lowes was the third fastest, keeping his pace in both the dry and wet conditions.

On Saturday, before the first race started and during Superpole qualifying, Rea set a lap time of 1:36.124 for Toprak Razgatlioglu to match his time shortly after, to within a thousandth of a second.

Never before in WorldSBK history has two riders set exactly the same time in Superpole qualifying. In any case, it was Jonathan who took pole position, as his next best lap time was better than the Turkish rider.

In the first race of the weekend, Lowes got into a fight with Garrett Gerloff, eventually finishing ahead of him in a very positive fourth place.

Rea rode confidently but crashed entering the final turns of lap three. A sensor located near the left front brake caliper touched the inside curb and lifted its front tire off the track surface while at full lean angle.

Jonathan was forced to leave the track, although celebrating not having been injured and being able to restart the race to finish a lap behind the leaders.

On Sunday, in the Superpole Race, Rea starred in a spectacular battle until the last turn against Álvaro Bautista for second place, which ultimately went to the Northern Irishman. The victory went to Razgatlioglu.

At the start of the last race of the weekend, Toprak held on for the lead, but was shattered by Bautista through top speed down the straight. When the Turk fell to second position, Rea, who had just fought Lowes, attacked him to overtake him as well, just as the Spaniard had done before.

With Bautista and Rea in the first two positions, the decisive – and controversial – moment of the race arrived. During a move by the Northern Irishman, Jonathan made Bautista fell, for which he received a Long Lap Penalty, a penalty that seemed insufficient to some and fair to others.

Ultimately, Rea was able to finish fifth, while Lowes was fourth. The podium at Magny-Cours went to: Toprak Razgatliogly, Ruben Rinaldi and Axel Bassani, respectively.

The next round will be run at the Barcelona-Catalunya race track, also known as the Montmeló circuit, from September 23 to 25.