Jonathan Rea splashes his way to 98th World Superbike victory in France as Ulster rider takes huge step towards sixth title

The Kawasaki rider beat Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) by 3.3s with team-mate Alex Lowes completing the top three in the rain, almost 10 seconds down on the race winner.

Rea’s nearest title rival, Scott Redding, finished fifth on the Aruba.it Ducati behind team-mate Chaz Davies after factory Honda rider Leon Haslam crashed out on the final lap.

The Northern Ireland man now leads the standings by 65 points and will be feeling confident of putting the championship to bed in Sunday's two races.

In a dramatic start to the race, Rea – who qualified third - moved into the lead from the off after pole man Eugene Laverty was cruelly wiped out at the first turn by his BMW team-mate Tom Sykes’ wayward machine.

Sykes went down after contact with American rider Garrett Gerloff, who later crashed out of third place on the GRT Yamaha.

Rea held a narrow lead at the beginning of the race from Frenchman Baz and Gerloff, who both overhauled Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) as they set their sights on Rea.

However, Gerloff’s race ended prematurely when he was caught out by the tricky conditions, leaving Baz as the sole threat to the reigning champion.

Rea controlled the pace from the front, managing a gap of around half-a-second over Baz.

As the race unfolded, the champion-elect began to pick up the pace and extended his lead over Baz to two seconds with seven laps to go.

Baz was unable to respond as Rea splashed his way to a brilliant victory in the rain, which leaves the 33-year-old poised to wrap up the world title for the sixth year in a row on Sunday, where he successfully retained his crown in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The Superpole race is scheduled for 10:00 BST with race two on Sunday at 13:00 BST.

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