Jonathan Rea completes podium treble at Magny-Cours in France as Alvaro Bautista denies Toprak Razgatlioglu World Superbike hat-trick

Jonathan Rea capped a strong weekend at Magny-Cours in France after securing a trio of third-place finishes to make it seven World Superbike podiums in a row for the Northern Ireland man.
Kyle White
By Kyle White
Published 10th Sep 2023, 16:16 GMT
Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea finished third in all three races at the ninth round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in FranceKawasaki rider Jonathan Rea finished third in all three races at the ninth round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in France
Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea finished third in all three races at the ninth round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in France

Championship leader Alvaro Bautista powered clear on the Aruba.it Ducati for a dominant victory, denying Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu a treble at round nine.

It was an important win for reigning champion Bautista, whose title advantage was slashed by Razgatlioglu with three rounds remaining.

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Bautista finished 10th in Saturday’s first race after developing an issue with his Panigale V4R, which forced him to a virtual standstill.

He managed to re-join the race in last place and fought his way through the field in a damage limitation exercise, with Razgatlioglu reducing Bautista’s points advantage from 74 to 55.

Bautista claimed second place in the 10-lap Superpole race ahead of Rea before the Spaniard chalked up his 19th win of the season in the final race, which was held over a shortened distance of 17 laps following a red flag incident involving BMW’s Scott Redding and Dominique Aegerter on the GRT Yamaha.

Ulsterman Rea was embroiled in a battle with Razgatlioglu as the pair traded places in an entertaining duel, but the grandstand finish that looked certain never materialised as Razgatlioglu produced a blistering final lap to put daylight between himself and the 36-year-old, who will replace the BMW-bound Turkish rider in the Pata Yamaha team for 2024.

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Rea won his first race of the season at Most in the Czech Republic at the previous round at the end of July, prior to the summer break, but has been unable to seriously challenge the dominance of Bautista and Razgatlioglu on the Kawasaki this season.

Bautista won by 5.8s from Razgatlioglu and leads the title race by 57 points ahead of round 10 at Motorland Aragon (September 22-24), with Rea consolidating third in the standings, 120 behind Razgatlioglu but 34 ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha).

Locatelli was 4.1s behind Rea in race two as the Italian rider held off Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) by half-a-second, while Axel Bassani completed the top six on the Motocorsa Racing Ducati.

Danilo Petrucci was seventh (Barni Ducati) followed by Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha), Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and Philipp Oettl (Team Go Eleven Ducati).

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Redding’s luckless weekend continued as he retired from the race while Bradley Ray (Motoxracing Yamaha) was outside the points in 17th.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) did not start the race after withdrawing due to a knee injury.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, second on the Aruba.it Ducati in race one before crashing out of the Superpole race after he was hit by team-mate Bautista, retired after entering the pits.

Related topics:Jonathan ReaFranceNorthern Ireland