France WorldSBK Superpole Race Results: Razgatlioglu wins from Bautista

Toprak Razgatlioglu gets back to winning ways as he fights off Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea during the WorldSBK Superpole Race at Magny-Cours.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of race one when he lost positions to Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding, Rea did just that as kept the lead into turn one before coming under pressure from a very fast starting Bautista. 

Fastest in morning Warm-up by over eight tenths, Razgatlioglu made a rare mistake off the line and dropped from second to fourth before arriving at turn one.

With most of the field using the more favoured SC0 race tyre, both factory Honda riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge instead opted for pure performance in the early laps as they chose the SCX option. 

Using the Ducati’s incredible top speed advantage, Bautista wasted no time taking the lead from Rea on the run to turn five.

Looking to re-join the battle for first place, Razgatlioglu made his way back in the podium places after getting through on Redding at turn 15. 

As Rea looked to set up a move for the lead, Razgatlioglu instead pinched second place away from him before an immediate response came from the Kawasaki rider at turn 12.

However, Razgatlioglu was not to be denied as he made the move stick at turn 15 before turning his attention to race leader Bautista.

Further back and Vierge’s difficult weekend came to an end with a crash in sector three.

With just over five laps to go Razgatlioglu took the lead away from Bautista with a brilliant move at turn 14.  

Somewhat surprising given the pace Razgatlioglu seemed to have, Bautista came back at the reigning world champion on lap seven, however, the Spaniard ran slightly wide at turn five which gifted the lead back to the Yamaha rider.

As Bautista sized up another move on Razgatlioglu, contact was then made between the rear of the Yamaha and the front of Bautista’s Ducati which resulted in part of the championship leader’s fairing being broken off. 

The small contact led to Rea getting through on Bautista for second, however, the former MotoGP rider came back at his 2019 rival to get second place. 

• Garrett Gerloff: ‘It’s my best result of the year, I hate saying that’ 
• France WorldSBK Warm-up Results: Razgatlioglu bounces back with dominant display

Magny-Cours WorldSBK records

Fastest Lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:35.683s (2021) 

2021 Race Winners 

Race 1 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 

Race 2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 

2022 Race Winners 

Race 1 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati

Razgatlioglu's victory sees him take win number seven on the year, putting him one behind Bautista. 

Magny-Cours WorldSBK Sunday Schedule 

Sunday 

Warm-Up: 08:00-08:15

Superpole Race: 10:00

Race 2: 13:00