WorldSBK Magny-Cours Race 1 Results | Razgatlioglu unstoppable, Redding disaster

Toprak Razgatlioglu has nosed ahead in the 2021 WorldSBK Championship standings with a convincing seventh victory of the season at Magny-Cours, while Scott Redding’s title bid suffered a major blow with a costly tumble.

The in-form Turkish rider emphasised his credentials as the man to loosen Jonathan Rea’s grip on the WorldSBK crown by once more prevailing in a keen fight with the Kawasaki man early on before sprinting home to win by just over four seconds.

Having come into the race tied at the top of the standings with Rea, victory noses Razgatlioglu ahead by five points, though the psychological edge of victory over the six-time WorldSBK Champion could prove more valuable.

Without a race win now since Assen - a veritable drought in the context of 107-time race winner Rea - tellingly the Kawasaki man also found himself losing out in the heat of battle against Razgatlioglu and Redding at the Most Autodrom and Navarra.

Though he only had to contend with Razgatlioglu on this occasion, he was still comfortably defeated by his rival when the Yamaha man squeezed through on lap five at the Adelaide hairpin under braking and wasn’t challenged thereafter.

Redding, meanwhile, endured a torrid afternoon after suffering an off at the Chateau d’Eau to leave him 12th at the chequered flag, the ill-timed error losing him a large chunk of the points he accumulated with his wins in the Czech Republic and Spain. 

With the third of the title contending triumvirate out of contention, Andrea Locatelli continued his rich run of recent form, the Italian getting the better of Michael Ruben Rinaldi before benefitting from a crash for Alex Lowes as he swept to his third podium finish of the season.

Behind Rinaldi, Michael van der Mark flew the flag for BMW with a solid run to fifth position, while Alvaro Bautista collected a strong finish for Honda in sixth, staying clear of a momentum swinging battle between the privateer Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Axel Bassani, decided in the Welshman’s favour on the final lap.

Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam rounded out the top ten, while Garrett Gerloff, the recovering Redding, local rider Christophe Ponsson, Tito Rabat and Isaac Vinales rounded out the points’ paying positions.

2021 WorldSBK Magny-Cours, France | Race 1 RESULTS