Jonathan Rea 'excited to get stuck in' as Kawasaki rider on brink of sixth World Superbike title at Magny-Cours

The Northern Ireland rider has wrapped up the championship spoils at the French venue for the past three seasons has a strong chance of extending that sequence, with the 33-year-old heading into the penultimate round of the revised 2020 calendar with a 51-point advantage over Ducati’s Scott Redding.

Should Rea manage to increase his lead by a further 12 points by the end of race two on Sunday, the Kawasaki rider will be crowned champion for a sixth consecutive year.

Rea is also closing in on a landmark 100 World Superbike victories, with the all-conquering Ulsterman notching up his 97th success in the previous round at Catalunya in Barcelona, where he won the first ever WSBK race in history at the Spanish circuit.

With nine wins under his belt so far this year, there is every likelihood Rea will add to that tally at Magny-Cours, where he has stood on the top step six times since 2015 and finished on the podium at least once every year since 2014.

With one hand firmly on the title, Rea admits he is ‘excited’ for what lies ahead this weekend, although he also has one eye on the sometimes unpredictable weather at Magny-Cours.

“Magny-Cours is a circuit I have a lot of special memories of in the past. Recently they have resurfaced the circuit so we need to pay attention to that.

“In Magny-Cours we will face cooler weather conditions than we have for most of this season’s championship. There is always the possibility that it will be wet but we will just take that in our stride. “Magny is different to the circuits we have been riding on during the season so far. It is very stop and go, with a lot of hard acceleration and fast changes of direction,” added Rea.

“We have been strong in those areas in the past so we just need to understand our base set-up and manipulate that as the track requests.”

Assessing his prospects, Rea said his goals remain unchanged, with further race wins still his primary objective in France.

“I have been feeling good with the bike this season and I am excited to get stuck in,” he said.

“Of course, while we need to keep one eye on the weather forecast, the target is always the same – to win races and go step-by-step.”

Free practice gets under way on Friday, with FP3 and Superpole qualifying on Saturday setting the scene for race one (13:00 BST).

On Sunday, the Superpole race is at 10:00 BST with race two at 13:00 BST.

The eighth and final round of the 2020 World Superbike Championship will take place at Estoril in Portugal from October 16-18.

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