Jonathan Rea seventh fastest in opening free practice at Magny-Cours in France

The Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider set his fastest lap in 1m 37.424s, which left him just over one second down on pacesetter and championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad).

Turkish rider Razgatlioglu led a 1-2-3- for BMW in FP1, topping the times by 0.353s from American Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo BMW), with Michael van der Mark third on the second of the factory M1000RR machines, a further three tenths adrift.

Razgatlioglu is on a record-breaking run of 13 consecutive victories as the 27-year-old goes for a second world crown following his maiden title triumph in 2021.

Aruba.it Ducati riders Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista were fourth and fifth fastest respectively with Alex Lowes in sixth for the Kawasaki Racing Team ahead of six-time champion Rea, who is 10th in the standings with five rounds to go.

Rea is focused on finishing the championship on a high as Magny-Cours signals the beginning of a busy final period of the 2024 season.

The 37-year-old, 279 points behind title favourite Razgatlioglu, has been unable to add to his record tally of 119 WSBK wins this season, with his best result to date a podium finish at Donington Park in July, when he claimed third in the Superpole race.

However, Rea has been making progress with the YZF-R1 in recent rounds and is aiming to continue on the same trajectory this weekend at a venue that holds special memories for Rea, where he has celebrated title success in the past.

“Magny-Cours is a circuit that I really look forward to going to – I have some amazing memories from there in the past,” said Rea.

“The track has a bit of everything. It’s got fast and flowing sectors, stop and go sectors and it’s somewhere where you really need to get the best out of your machine.

“In the last couple of races we’ve been able to understand how to extract the performance out of the Yamaha R1 for my style – we’ve been very competitive at the end of races and our tyre consumption has been good.

“The next thing I want to focus on is my one-lap time attack pace, because qualifying has proven very important in WorldSBK this season.”

The unpredictable weather can often have an impact at the French circuit but Rea is preparing for any scenario as the series resumes following a short break.

“Looking forward to the weekend,” he added. “Last year we had a really hot weekend but with Magny-Cours you never know.

“So, we will keep one eye on the weather and after these weeks off, I’m looking forward to seeing the guys and making a plan together, and to start what is going to be a very busy and intense part of the season.”

Free practice continues on Friday afternoon with Superpole qualifying and the opening race (13:00 BST) taking place on Saturday.

Sunday’s Superpole race is at 10:00 BST with Race 2 at 14:30 BST.