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Tag: Magny-Cours

  • WorldSBK: Defiant Lecuona fails to best Bulega at Magny-Cours

    WorldSBK: Defiant Lecuona fails to best Bulega at Magny-Cours

    Two attritional red-flagged races at the Acerbis French Round and some contact with Iker Lecuona were not enough to stop Nicolo Bulega from keeping his cool to wrap up another treble in 2026.

    Race 1

    Lecuona almost took the lead at the first corner after starting third behind Bulega and Sam Lowes. The two would come to blows at the Adelaide hairpin and Nurburgring chicane on a few occasions at what turned out to be a manic first race at Magny Cours.

    On lap three the Ducati pair briefly made contact at the section of track that lends itself to block passes and counter attacks.  Things settled down after lap six and Bulega began to stretch his lead ahead of Lecuona while the Lowes’ brothers, Alberto Surra and Lorenzo Baldassari ran behind with Jake Dixon also impressing inside the top 10 on the Honda.

    When Remy Gardener was knocked out by fellow Yamaha rider Xavi Vierge at Adelaide early on, it started a chain of retirements that culminated in a red flag.  Tommy Bridewell’s crash into the air fence that subsequently needed repairs with 12 laps to go would leave just 14 bikes taking the restart (including only two out of five Yamahas).

    Once again, Lecuona made contact with Bulega through the Adelaide/Nurburgring section in his efforts to take the lead on the restart.  At one point, Sam Lowes nearly scythed past for second before being baulked by Lecuona with the MarcVDS rider ultimately having to settle for third.

    There were six Ducati bikes in the top eight by the finish, with Bulega inevitably pulling clear to come home 3.1 seconds ahead of a desperate Lecuona. At the other end of the pack, even when Alvaro Bautista lowsided in the second half of the race he rejoined to score guaranteed points since so few riders managed to go the distance.

    Race 1 Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK


    Tissot Superpole Race

    Although Lecuona passed Bulega to snatch the lead of the 10 lap race early on, by lap three it was a done deal.  Bulega was wise to Lecuona’s tactics after an eventful Race One yesterday and cut through at the Adelaide hairpin before the latter made a critical mistake on the following lap.

    In his desperation to repass Bulega, Lecuona made a mistake that temporarily allowed Sam Lowes through into second.  By the time Lecuona bullied his way back past into second it was too late to catch Bulega, and Sam would also end up crashing out at turn three on the last lap.

    Yari Montella just held onto third ahead of Surra and Alex Lowes (the only non Ducati in the top seven) while Bridewell held off Baldassari for sixth place. A little further back, Gardner got his revenge on Vierge from the previous day by passing him on the finishing line for eighth place.

    After profiting from a mistake by Axel Bassani, Dixon had again been in contention for a top 10 result but both he and Bautista slid wide on lap seven.   It was another wretched race for BMW, while Ducati again reigned supreme.

    Tissot Superpole Race Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK


    Race 2

    Unlike in the previous pair of races, Lecuona could not outrace or outsmart Bulega, with the latter covering his lead at the start and rapidly created out an impressive buffer behind in the opening laps.  Things looked over for the race win when Bulega put in a stunningly quick lap on the fourth tour, and so it turned out to be.

    An impressive Surra leapfrogged Montella at the start but after five spirited laps of defence the former succumbed to the latter’s aggressive attacks.  Alex Lowes tried and failed to unseat Surra for fourth before he crashed out on lap 11, with Baldassari then clear to pounce and did so three laps later.

    Another satellite Ducati rider showing among the best pace they have had all year was Bridewell.  Having crashed out of Race One the previous day while running well, Bridewell was scrapping for sixth with two-time champion Bautista for most of the race, however for the second day in succession the Brit caused a red flag which this time left his body rather than a barrier bruised.

    Well over two thirds of the race was complete so the red flag ended the event – which was ultimately over anyway as Bulega had settled into his groove and disappeared like he had at so many races this year. It was another crash-filled affair at Magny Cours with Alex Lowes able to rejoin but four others crashing out as well as Bridewell.

    A surprise further down the order was the lack of progress from Sam Lowes after his morning crash consigned him to 10th on the grid from which he never progressed.  Up front and heading to Cremona with a VR46 MotoGP deal believed to be in his pocket, Bulega looks set to wrap up the 2026 crown on home soil in three weeks time.

    Race 2 Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

     

    Championship Standings

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

    Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK

  • WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu masters Magny-Cours to seal 12 consecutive wins

    WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu masters Magny-Cours to seal 12 consecutive wins

    After a dominant display in qualifying and Race 1, Toprak Razgatlioglu unsurprisingly rode off into the distance on the Sunday of the French Round to take a 4th consecutive hat-trick and 12th win in a row in 2025 ahead of a demoralised Nicolo Bulega.

     

    Tissot Superpole Race

    Bulega very briefly led the Sunday morning 10-lap race in Magny-Cours before Razgatlioglu secured the win with a clinical move at the tight hairpin halfway round the opening lap to ease home for another victory.  A mistake for Bulega at turn 15 at the end of lap 3 left the Italian behind the Lowes’ brothers, which sealed the deal for any hopes of a battle for the race win.

    Alex Lowes once again came home in 3rd despite running behind his brother Sam in the early stages.  Sam was cycled back to 4th when Bulega came past him and Alex a lap and a half after his mistake, but the MarcVDS rider then crashed out with 4 laps to go with much bigger consequences than yesterday to leave him stranded down the grid for Race 2.

    The best-of-the-rest fight for 4th place became a battle between Danilo Petrucci and Michael van der Mark.  Clearly van der Mark’s contusions from yesterday’s crashes were not slowing him down as he came home a solid 5th behind Petrucci.  Andrea Iannone meanwhile just held off Jonathan Rea, Axel Bassani and Xavi Vierge for 6th.

    Rea was fortunate to even make it to the finish after he had to take avoiding action at the hairpin at one point which led to Alvaro Bautista slamming into the back of him.  Bautista ended up on the floor and – like Sam Lowes – one of the quick riders stuck outside of the top 3 rows for Race 2 in the afternoon.

    Tissot Superpole Race Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

    Race 2

    Razgatlioglu defended his lead at the start of Race 2, Bulega held onto 2nd, and Alex Lowes settled into 3rd to seal the exact same podium for all three events this weekend in Magny Cours.  It was another dominant display from the BMW rider who sealed a 12th consecutive victory and leaves him with a 39-point lead in the championship with just 3 rounds (and 12 races) to go in 2025.

    The action at the start of Race 2 was provided by a fast-starting Rea who shot up to 4th place from 7th on the grid.  Bautista was also riding like a man possessed from a lowly 14th on the grid after another pair of unfortunate crashes in the previous 2 races.

    By the end of the race Bautista was so rapid that he almost caught Alex Lowes for the final podium spot.  It was thrilling to watch the Ducati rider scythe away through the order, particularly against a rejuvenated Michael van der Mark who came home a solid 5th place behind Bautista.

    Alex Lowes had been battling Danilo Petrucci for 4th initially before the Barni Ducati rider lost his pace, while Rea also fell into 6th ahead of Vierge – who himself had initially squabbled with van der Mark.  Rea had challenged Alex Lowes for 3rd for as long as he could, but the Bimota, factory BMW and factory Ducati’s were just a little too quick for the retiring legend to stay in the podium battle for long.

    Behind Petrucci in 7th came Locatelli, Aegerter and Gerloff rounding out the top 10, with only 2 seconds separating those 4.  Tarran MacKenzie and substitute HRC rider Sergio Garcia rounded out the points scorers after solid rides to 14th and 15th places respectively.

    Razgatlioglu was 8 seconds clear of Bulega at the flag and enjoyed a symbolic celebration at the same corner where he crashed at high-speed last year which ruled him out of action for that particular round.  With a 39-point gap at the top of the standings and Bulega seemingly unable to thwart his BMW nemesis like he could do earlier in the campaign, Razgatlioglu is well on his way to a 3rd WorldSBK title ahead of his much-awaited MotoGP move in 2026.

    Race 2 Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

    Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK

  • WorldSBK: Attritional Race 1 at Magny-Cours sees Razgatlioglu make history

    WorldSBK: Attritional Race 1 at Magny-Cours sees Razgatlioglu make history

    Toprak Razgatliolu became the first rider since Troy Corser to win at the same circuit on three different makes of bike in the Superbike World Championship in the opening race of the 2025 French Round, which saw another hectic lap 1 mix up the field.

    From pole position sealed with an all-time lap record around the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Razgatlioglu led the field and never looked back at a track that he has already notched up wins on for Kawasaki and Yamaha.  Of course, had it not been for a nightmare crash last season here at Magny-Cours then the record of winning for 3 manufacturers would almost certainly already have been his and Corser’s to share this time last year.

    The man who leapt up to 2nd was Alex Lowes on the Bimota machine, while Nicolo Bulega fell back to 4th also behind Sam Lowes.  Predictably, Bulega would be back into 2nd place after a couple of laps and as usual Razgatlioglu was already comfortably clear by this point while Alex Lowes settled into the final podium spot.

    At turn 9 on what appeared to be quite a clean opening lap of the race, Yari Montella came into the right-hand corner and eliminated both Andrea Iannone and Jonathan Rea.  Rea was able to continue but later retired, while later in the same corner both Xavi Vierge and Alvaro Bautista bizarrely went down themselves (and were at least able to rejoin) to leave 5 bikes on the floor at one point.

    Michael van der Mark avoided the chaos and was finally showing some strong race pace in his morbid 2025 campaign but 2 crashes left him with injured with contusions, just like Iannone from the incident on lap 1.  Garrett Gerloff also slid out at high speed by himself as the race reached the closing stages while Tarran MacKenzie was also forced to retire early on.

    The 15 riders who scored world championship points were the only 15 to have a clean race.  That is except for Sam Lowes, who threw away 4th place with a clumsy crash at turn 13 late on but he was at least able to bring the bike back home in 9th place ahead of an unlikely duo of Bahattin Sofuoglu in 10th and Iker Lecuona replacement rider Sergio Garcia in 11th.

    The attrition meant that Andrea Locatelli was able to come from the pitlane after a crash in quaifying to finish a remarkable 5th place.  Nonetheless, it was Razgatlioglu up front who stole the headlines with a dominant victory that left no one in doubt who was the favourite for Sunday’s pair of races with a 4th consecutive hattrick/treble looking ominous.

     

    Race 1 Results

    Image Credit: WorldSBK

    Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK