Alvaro Bautista declared unfit for Race 2 at Magny-Cours after Superpole crash as Nicolo Bulega claims narrow victory
Reigning World Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista has joined Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu on the sidelines at Magny-Cours in France following a crash in the Superpole race on Sunday.
The Aruba.it Ducati rider came off on the first lap and was declared unfit to compete in Race 2 this afternoon (14:30 BST) after sustaining a fracture to the eighth rib on his right side.
Bautista claimed the runner-up spot in Saturday’s opening race after starting from 17th place on the grid, charging through the pack to finish behind ROKiT BMW’s Michael van der Mark in heavy rain.
Ulsterman Rea crashed on Saturday and underwent surgery to repair a deep laceration to his right thumb, while championship leader Razgatlioglu was ruled out of the French round after a heavy fall in free practice on Friday, which left him with a collapsed lung.
Bautista’s team-mate, Nicol Bulega, held off Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes to win the 10-lap Superpole race on Sunday.
Bulega took the lead from the English rider on the opening lap and pulled a slight gap when Lowes made an error on the penultimate lap.
Lowes fought back but Bulega – a faller on Saturday – held on to win by 0.115s to seal his first win since his maiden World Superbike victory on his debut at the first round at Phillip Island in Australia.
The World Supersport champion is second in the championship, 80 points behind Razgatlioglu going into Race 2.
Danilo Petrucci matched his result from Saturday by taking third again on the Barni Spark Ducati a few seconds back, with Scott Redding in fourth on the Bonovo Action BMW.
Honda’s Xavi Vierge finished fifth ahead of Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW).
Van der Mark was eighth behind Iker Lecuona (Team HRC), while Remy Gardner was the top Yamaha rider in ninth on the for the GYTR GRT team.