WorldSBK Magny-Cours Superpole Results | Rea pole after Razgatlioglu dead-heat

Jonathan Rea has landed his fourth WorldSBK pole position of the season after pipping Toprak Razgatlioglu to the top spot with an identical lap time to his title rival at Magny-Cours.

With the WorldSBK pack firing back into action following the long summer hiatus, Rea - who comes into the weekend trailing Alvaro Bautista by 31 points - started as he means to go on by getting the edge in a tight qualifying session around the French circuit.

Hitting the front with a 1m 36.124secs, the Kawasaki man was pushed all the way by Razgatlioglu as the Turk stopped the clock with the same lap time. However, pole was decided in the Ulsterman’s favour by virtue of his second fastest lap time of 1m 36.168secs proving quicker than the Yamaha rider.

Nevertheless, Razgatlioglu - who secured his maiden WorldSBK wins at Magny-Cours in 2019 on the Puccetti Kawasaki - remains a threat in second place, the defending champion 38 points off Bautista but coming to France as the form man after winning six of the last eight races.

Following his star turn at Most before the summer break, Scott Redding continued to show impressive pace on the factory BMW as he nabbed both his and the manufacturer’s first front row start of the year in third.

His efforts were enough to bump down series leader Bautista, the Spaniard under pressure this weekend to turn Ducati’s fortunes around at Magny-Cours having won just four races in the many years WorldSBK has visited.

Amid reports he will leave GRT Yamaha for Bonovo BMW next season, Garrett Gerloff produced his best qualifying performance of the year in fifth place, pushing practice pace setter Alex Lowes onto the outside of the second row in sixth.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi gets underway from seventh, ahead of the rider tipped to replace him on the factory Ducati next year, Axel Bassani, while Loris Baz was the best of the local contingent in ninth place.

Philipp Oettl landed his first top ten start of his rookie campaign in tenth, ahead of Lucas Mahias and the out-of-sorts Andrea Locatelli, who could only manage 12th. Honda, meanwhile, have a tough weekend ahead after only managing 13th and 14th with Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge in the first event since its triumphant Suzuka 8 Hours result.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Magny-Cours, France | Superpole Qualifying RESULTS