Gordon Ritchie | October 4, 2020
Sunday
WorldSBK Race Two
The final WorldSBK race of the Magny Cours round saw Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) fight it out for not only the race win at one stage, but any chance Redding had of swiping the crown from Rea, who was on course to win outright one whole round early.
On a drying track, Redding summoned up a gutsy front-running race win to keep the championship alive until the final round, securing his fifth victory of the 2020 season in the process.
Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) went from fourth to third early on using a standard rear Pirelli wet, while everyone else used the development softer wet option. He moved up to second and stayed there to the end.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) had possibly the most important third place of his career, as keeping Rea down in fourth in the final Magny race ensured that Jonathan would exit France 59 point ahead of Scott – not quite enough to make the crown certain at this round.
Fifth today was the top official Yamaha of Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) sixth.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was second early on but soon dropped to a final seventh.
Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten.
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) was top Honda rider in 13th place.
2020 French WorldSBK Results—WorldSBK Race Two
1 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
|
2 |
Loris Baz |
(Yam) |
+2.551s |
3 |
Chaz Davies |
(Duc) |
+3.648s |
4 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+4.261s |
5 |
M. van der Mark |
(Yam) |
+7.409s |
WorldSSP Race Two
Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) got his dreamed-for home win on his Kawasaki with a front-running performance that took him well clear of second place finisher Kyle Smith (GMT94 Yamaha) after 18 soaking laps of the 4.411km long Magny Cours circuit.
Mahias had one major problem removed before the start, as new world champion Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) crashed on the warm-up lap and no scored.
Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team Kawasaki) was on course for a podium finish in third place but fell with a handful of laps to go, allowing Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) his second podium finish of the weekend. He was, however, almost 25 seconds down on Mahias.
Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) had some major moments but hung on to finish fourth, and recent WorldSSP inductee Karel Hanika (WRP Wepol Racing Yamaha) was fifth.
A big warring group for sixth place saw Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) at the front at the flag, with Öncü seventh, Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing Yamaha) eighth, Hikari Okubo (Dynavolt Honda) ninth and late crasher and re-starter Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team Yamaha) tenth.
In treacherous conditions, only 14 riders finished to score points.
2020 French WorldSBK Results—WorldSSP Race Two
1 |
Lucas Mahias |
(Kaw) |
|
2 |
Kyle Smith |
(Yam) |
+5.322s |
3 |
Hannes Soomer |
(Yam) |
+24.651s |
4 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+33.041s |
5 |
Karel Hanika |
(Yam) |
+38.600s |
WorldSBK Superpole Race
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took another start-to-finish race win at Magny Cours to extend his championship lead again – to 71 points – and take his all-time record of race wins in this category to 99.
It was his 300th race in World SBK and with his team-mate Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) second, it was the second Kawasaki 1-2 this year after Phillip Island’s final race of the opening weekend.
Third, after a fabulous late fight with fourth placed Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), with both riders applying full risk in the sopping wet conditions.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) got through to fifth, with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) sixth.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) held off the once more dramatic Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) for seventh, while Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Leandro Mercado (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) rounded out the top 10.
2020 French WorldSBK Results—WorldSBK Superpole Race
1 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
|
2 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+2.387s |
3 |
M. van der Mark |
(Yam) |
+3.206s |
4 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+3.348s |
5 |
Chaz Davies |
(Duc) |
+7.042s |
Saturday
WorldSBK Race One
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) had a virtual start-to-finish advantage in race one and used all his experience to ease away from eventual second-place finisher Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and win his tenth race of 2020, and the 98th of his career.
Third was Rea’s team-mate Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) in a lonely podium place after some fights with Yamaha riders in the early laps.
In fully wet conditions Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fourth, all on his own, but the battle for fifth finally had three contenders.
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) crashed in a huge highside having just re-passed Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and after the ensuing melee Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) made the most of the opportunity to finish fifth, having been only just inside the top ten at the beginning.
With Razgatlioglu sixth, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) was seventh; Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) eighth. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was another faller with 15 of 21 to go, losing a clear fourth-place finish and ending up ninth.
Tenth was Leandro Mercado (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati).
The ‘magic’ of a BMW 1-2 from Superpole ended early in race one when a turn one incident after Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) went wide – after a contact with Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) – and in touching Eugene Laverty as he went wide, they both fell and were unable to restart.
Gerloff was to crash from a top three position on lap eight of 21, while exiting T7 on the gas.
Rea enters the final Magny Cours raceday on Sunday with a lead that has grown to 65 points.
2020 French WorldSBK Results—WorldSBK Race One
1 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
|
2 |
Loris Baz |
(Yam) |
+3.342s |
3 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+9.707s |
4 |
Chaz Davies |
(Duc) |
+14.045s |
5 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+16.427s |
WorldSSP Race One
Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) made an early pass on eventual second place rider Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) to win a red-flagged opening WorldSSP race at Magny Cours.
The new champion was again unstoppable – even by a determined Mahias on home ground – although he was suffering with a relative lack of rear end grip in the race compared to the practice sessions.
Pole man Kyle Smith (GMT94 Yamaha) fell not once but twice, eventually losing his strong chances of podium finishes.
The final podium place went to Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) the first top three of the 22-year-old Estonian’s career.
Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was fourth, with the best WorldSSP challenge rider being Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team Yamaha) in overall fifth.
A career-best result for Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team Kawasaki) placed him sixth, one position ahead of the faster starting Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team), who had got up to a podium position at one point.
Federico Fuglini (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was eighth, Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) ninth and Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing Yamaha) tenth.
One more race on Sunday, when wet weather is expected again.
2020 French WorldSSP Results—Race One
1 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
2 |
Lucas Mahias |
(Kaw) |
3 |
Hannes Soomer |
(Yam) |
4 |
Raffaele de Rosa |
(MVA) |
5 |
Kevin Manfredi |
(Yam) |
Friday
A flurry of fast laps at the end of the second wet WorldSBK session for the 2020 French WorldSBK round from Magny Cours was ended by a flourish from American rookie Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), who timed his final lap well to take the overnight Friday ‘pole’ position on his 2019 spec Yamaha.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) survived a near-crash experience to take the second-best lap time, just ahead of the fast-finishing Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati).
The miserable weather did not hold back the push from the top riders, as Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) finished fourth. He was the third Independent rider inside the top four places today.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) placed fifth and the eventually crashing Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) sixth.
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was another faller, but still seventh, with Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) eighth, Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) ninth and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 10th.
2020 French WorldSBK Results—Friday Combined
1 |
Garrett Gerloff |
(Yam) |
1:48.830s |
2 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+0.015s |
3 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+0.084s |
4 |
Loris Baz |
(Yam) |
+0.582s |
5 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+0.722s |
WorldSSP
In fully wet conditions both early practice sessions for the penultimate WorldSSP round got underway on what is all-new asphalt for the riders compared to last year.
Almost all the riders set faster times this afternoon than this morning, which left Kyle Smith (GMT94 Yamaha) quickest in the wet conditions he usually excels in. He was a podium finisher in Barcelona in one race, which ended up being held in similar conditions.
Local rider and second-placed championship contender Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was also second on the combined timesheets today – but still 0.812 seconds behind Smith.
Recently crowned 2020 WorldSSP champion Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) was third fastest in the cool and wet conditions, with late crasher Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) fourth.
Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team Yamaha) was fifth – and first session fastest rider. Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) placed sixth on a day of many mishaps and canceled laps in the treacherous conditions.
Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) scored seventh-best time; new one-off rider Karel Hanika (WRP Wepol Yamaha) was eighth for the James Toseland managed team, while Italians Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) and finally another faller Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) rounded out the top ten.
More wet weather is expected—at least at times—across the Magny Cours race weekend.
2020 French WorldSSP Results—Friday Combined
1 |
Kyle Smith |
(Yam) |
1:54.250s |
2 |
Lucas Mahias |
(Kaw) |
+0.812s |
3 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+0.915s |
4 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+1.028s |
5 |
Kevin Manfredi |
(Yam) |
+1.238s |
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