WorldSBK France Results, Race 2 - Intensity, but at a distance

The ninth round of the 2023 World Superbike Championship takes place this weekend at Magny-Cours in France. This page will be updated throughout the weekend with WorldSBK France results.

Overview

Race 2 - Bautista dominates as Razgatlioglu out-duels Rea for second

Superpole Race - Razgatlioglu doubles up as Bautista wipes out Rinaldi

Race 1 - Razgatlioglu defeats Rinaldi as Bautista hampered by bike issue

Superpole - Gerloff takes first ever WorldSBK pole with Magny-Cours lap record

FP2 - Two red flags disrupt FP2, Rinaldi fastest 

FP1 - Rea kicks of France weekend on top

Race 2

More issues for Alvaro Bautista in the Superpole Race meant that questions remained unanswered ahead of Race 2. Those questions were answered emphatically, with Bautista taking victory by a colossal margin.

Although it was Toprak Razgatlioglu who started from pole, it was once again Alvaro Bautista who made the holeshot. Jonathan Rea had passed Razgatlioglu at the start, too, but he was unable to get past Bautista and to the front.

Just as Bautista was beginning to pull away, on lap four, the red flag was thrown for an incident between Scott Redding and Dominique Aegerter.

When the race restarted, it did so over 17 laps, and after Scott Redding had been handed his second and third long lap penalties of the day. A double-long-lap for the contact with Aegerter (who didn’t make the restart) that caused the red flag added to his single-long-lap in the Superpole Race for contact with Garrett Gerloff.

On the restart, Alvaro Bautista now started from pole, because grid positions were determined by the most recent sector. It was, therefore, no surprise to see him make the holeshot. Behind him, the order remained the same, with Rea ahead of Razgatlioglu. Danilo Petrucci, though, had gone backwards from fourth to 10th, and Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Axel Bassani had risen to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Razgatlioglu passed Rea before the end of the first lap, but a mistake at turn five on lap two almost cost him the position. There was no ‘almost’ about what it cost him to Bautista, though, who gained over half-a-second.

At the end of lap two, Bautista’s lead was over one second, and the race for the lead was over.

The battle for second, though, was intense. Rea moved back into that second place on lap six. 

Razgatlioglu had made a suspension change, he revealed to Eurosport’s James Toseland, and it seemed that it had reduced his comfort. He was not able to make the same kind of late braking moves that had taken him to the front quite spectacularly in the Superpole Race, and there were also areas where he was struggling in comparison to Rea, especially in traction zones.

He was, though, able to get back through and into second place with six laps to go. From there, the battle was like a reminder of 2021. Neither gave in, and the result was not decided until the final lap.

That final tour was a masterpiece by Razgatlioglu, who was able to escape from Rea, and secure himself 20 points for second, albeit 5.893 seconds adrift of the dominant - and totally cruising - Bautista. Rea, on the other hand, had to settle for third place.

Andrea Locatelli took his second fourth place of the day, ahead of Garrett Gerloff (5th, top BMW), and Axel Bassani (6th), who completed the top six.

Danilo Petrucci was seventh, ahead of Remy Gardner (8th), Xavi Vierge (9th, top Honda), and Philipp Oettl (10th), who rounded out the top 10.

Before the race, Alex Lowes was declared unfit with a knee injury and was unable to start the race as a result. Dominique Aegerter did not make the restart after his crash with Redding.

Full WorldSBK results from Race 2 in France are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | Race 2

Superpole Race

The WorldSBK Superpole Race represented a chance at redemption for Alvaro Bautista after his issues in Race 1. However, an incident with his teammate opened the door once again for Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Just as in Race 1, Alvaro Bautista made the holeshot ahead of his Ducati teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, while Toprak Razgatlioglu was third and Jonathan Rea fourth. Pole sitter Garrett Gerloff had a terrible first lap, dropping down non-stop from the first lap until the 180-degree corner, where he was taken out by Scott Redding, for which the #45 (who remounted after the Gerloff contact) was handed a long lap penalty.

Razgatlioglu was third when he hit the brakes at turn five on the second lap, but he passed both Ducatis by the time he arrived at the apex. A battle ensued, but Razgatlioglu established himself at the front by the end of the lap.

Rinaldi, though, responded, and passed for the lead on lap three. When Razgatlioglu responded at turn five, things got worse for Rinaldi, when he was taken out by his teammate, Bautista. Somehow, Bautista escaped a penalty.

Bautista had dropped back to the lower end of the top five after the Rinaldi incident but, with three laps to go, he was back up into second, and had a two-second gap to close up to Razgatlioglu.

The Spaniard was much faster than Razgatlioglu, but he ran out of time. The #54 took his fourth Superpole Race win of the season, and sixth win in total for 2023.

Bautista was able to at least limit the damage with a second place, while Jonathan Rea completed the podium for Kawasaki.

Andrea Locatelli was fourth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (5th) and Dominique Aegerter (6th) who made it three Yamahas in the top six.

Loris Baz was seventh on the top BMW, ahead of Axel Bassani (8th) and Xavi Vierge (9th, top Honda), who reverted to the old Honda chassis for this weekend (a new ‘Superconcession’ chassis was brought to Magny-Cours, Vierge preferring the previous version) to take the final third row spot for Race 2. Philipp Oettl rounded out the top 10.

Full WorldSBK results from the Superpole Race in France are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | Superpole Race

Race 1

WorldSBK Race 1 was delayed before it began but, when it eventually did get underway, it was dominated by Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Toprak Razgatlioglu, with the latter coming out on top.

A small delay to Race 1 was called at the end of the initial warm-up lap. The official reason was technical problems, but it meant that the race distance was reduced to 20 laps.

The eventual start saw the two factory Ducatis of Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi jump Garrett Gerloff. Bautista made the holeshot from Rinaldi, and Toprak Razgatlioglu got past Gerloff into turn five on the first lap, before passing Rinaldi before the end of the first lap.

A lap later, and Razgatlioglu was at the front, and then things got worse for Bautista, who dropped to last place when he had an issue on the exit of turn five on the third lap.

Bautista’s issue promoted Rinaldi to second place, and he was still well in touch with Razgatlioglu. In fact, he re-passed Razgatlioglu for the lead on lap five.

Razgatlioglu was never dropped by Rinaldi, and he finally retook the lead - after a couple of failed attempts - on lap 14 with a robust pass - mirroring the one Rinaldi put on him to take the lead in the first place - at the Imola Chicane.

In the final laps, Razgatlioglu was able to pull away from Rinaldi to the tune of over two seconds, as he finally cruised to his seventh WorldSBK win at Magny-Cours.

It means Razgatlioglu’s deficit in the championship is reduced to just over 50 points, as Bautista was able to recover to 10th place by the end. After the title seemed to be over in Most after Razgatlioglu’s tyre issue and resultant crash, it now seems back on. 

Rinaldi hung on for second place - an important result in the context of his lack of a ride for 2024 - while Jonathan Rea rounded out the podium.

Garrett Gerloff was temporarily as low as fifth in the early part of the race, but he rose back up to fourth, at least in part due to a strange issue for Alex Lowes. The American finished fourth, and as the top BMW.

Danilo Petrucci completed the top five, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (6th) and Scott Redding (7th). The aforementioned Lowes had smoke intermittently emitting from his Kawasaki throughout the second half of the race. He never received a black and orange flag, but the issue seemed to get worse towards the end of the race, as he slipped from fourth to eighth. 

Philipp Oettl (9th), and the aforementioned Bautista (10th) completed the top 10. 

Full WorldSBK results from Race 1 in france are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | Race 1

Superpole

The good weather in France continued for WorldSBK Superpole in Magny-Cours, which was topped by Garrett Gerloff, who set a new all-time lap record for his first WorldSBK pole.

Jonathan Rea was fastest after everyone completed their respective first run, and he was backed up by his Kawasaki teammate Alex Lowes in second place. 

It was all change on the second runs, though, as Garrett Gerloff took his first ever Superpole with the all-time WorldSBK lap record at Magny-Cours.

He did it despite the best attempts of Alvaro Bautista, who was the only rider within 0.4 seconds of the American, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi completed the front row.

Toprak Razgatlioglu heads up row two in fourth; Jonathan Rea dropped from first to fourth on his second run, and the second row will be completed by Loris Baz.

Andrea Locatelli on the second Yamaha qualified seventh, ahead of Alex Lowes (8th) and Danilo Petrucci (9th); while Scott Redding completed the qualifying top 10 despite a crash, and will be joined by Philipp Oettl and Dominique Aegerter on the fourth row.

Full WorldSBK results from Superpole in France are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | Superpole

FP2

Similar conditions to the morning greeted the WorldSBK riders in FP2 in Magny-Cours; a session which was topped by Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

The session was red flagged with just over 35 minutes to go, after Xavi Vierge high-sided on the exit of turn three on dust that had been kicked up by Toprak Razgatlioglu a few moments before Vierge arrived to total his new superconcession Honda chassis. 

Soon after the session went green again, the red flag was thrown once more, this time for a bike issue for Dominique Aegerter which required a track inspection. Around half-an-hour remained after this second red flag and, in that time, Alvaro Bautista began to show his pace. He had been sixth in FP1, but climbed to the top after the red flag.

By the end, though, Bautista was pushed back to fourth and, instead, Michael Ruben Rinaldi - now looking for a job after his replacement at Ducati was announced as Nicolo Bulega for 2024 - finished FP2 as the fastest rider.

Garrett Gerloff repeated his result of FP1 to finish the afternoon in second place and as the top BMW, while the top-placed Yamaha of Toprak Razgatlioglu was third-fastest. The aforementioned Bautista was fourth, ahead of Scott Redding (5th) and Alex Lowes (6th, top Kawasaki), who completed the top six. 

Jonathan Rea was seventh, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (8th), Remy Gardner (9th), and Danilo Petrucci (10th), who completed the top 10.

Full WorldSBK results from FP2 in France are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | FP2

FP1

It became traditional for Magny-Cours to be coated in clouds and rain for the WorldSBK round when it was held in October, but now it has been brought forwards to September the weather is better. That was certainly true in FP1 for the 2023 edition, which took place under the sun. Jonathan Rea set the fastest time, while Axel Bassani caused a late red flag.

Rea had been at the top for a while by the time Bassani went down with two minutes to go. The Italian clipped the inside kerb on the first part of the Nurburgring Chicane, which caused him a huge headshake and eventually a large high side. Bassani walked away, but he ended the session in ninth.

In fact, the session ended completely. There were 103 seconds left on the clock, but Race Direction decided not to restart the session. 

That meant Rea ended the morning fastes, ahead of Garrett Gerloff (2nd, top BMW) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (3rd, top Yamaha) who completed the top three. Andrea Locatelli was immediately behind his Yamaha teammate, Razgatlioglu, in fourth place, while Alex Lowes was fifth, and Alvaro Bautista (6th, top Ducati) completed the top six.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi took seventh place, ahead of Scott Redding (8th), the aforementioned Bassani (9th), and Danilo Petrucci (10th), who completed the top 10 despite an early bike issue on the #9 Ducati.

Full WorldSBK results from FP1 in France are below.

2023 WorldSBK France Results | FP1