Jonathan Rea second as Toprak Razgatlioglu wins again in France

The six-time champion had to settle for the runner-up spot after Razgatlioglu won Saturday’s opener by more than four seconds, but Rea pushed the Yamaha rider all the way in the 10-lap Superpole sprint.

Rea, who set a new record of eight consecutive pole positions in Superpole qualifying on Saturday, surpassing American Ben Spies’ 2009 feat of seven successive poles, put the Turkish rider under heavy pressure throughout the race as they pulled clear of the rest.

On a pulsating final lap, Rea snatched the lead into the Imola chicane, but Razgatlioglu hit back straight away, returning to the front on the inside of the Kawasaki star at Turn 15.

From there, the new championship leader held Rea off to win by only 0.3s for his eighth victory of the season, with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) taking third, two seconds further adrift.

Razgatlioglu is now eight points ahead in the title standings going into the final race of the weekend on Sunday (13:00 BST).

Andrea Locatelli was fourth on the second of the Pata Yamaha machines ahead of Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati), with Michael van der Mark completing the top six on the factory BMW.