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Rea secures 99th WorldSBK victory with Superpole Race win

Sunday, 4 October 2020 09:28 GMT

    • Jonathan Rea moves one step closer to a historic sixth title and a record 100 victories after taking the Superpole Race win

    More rain fell at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours for the Tissot Superpole Race as the challenging Pirelli French Round continued with more thrills and spills in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) leading a Kawasaki 1-2 finish ahead of teammate Alex Lowes.

    Rea had started from third place but assumed the race of the lead by Turn 2 and from there he took a commanding victory for his 99th WorldSBK win in his 300th race in the category. Lowes finished in second place as KRT finished first and second in the Superpole Race; Lowes securing his second podium of the weekend. Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) completed the podium with the Dutchman bouncing back from a Race 1 crash to secure his seventh podium of the season.

    Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) moved up the grid from tenth place to finish in fourth with the British rider putting van der Mark under pressure in the latter stages; the duo battling into Turn 15 on the final lap with van der Mark coming out on top. He finished four seconds clear of teammate Chaz Davies, with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) completing the top six.

    Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) was in seventh place with American star Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) in eighth. Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) claimed a third row start for Race 2 with ninth place; holding off the challenge from Argentinian rider Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) and Leon Haslam (Team HRC).

    The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team duo, Eugene Laverty and Tom Sykes, had started the race from first and second but finished out of the points; Laverty down in 15th and Sykes in 20th after taking a trip through the pitlane, while Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) crashed out of the race at Turn 15.

    The top six following the Tissot Superpole Race, full results here:

    1.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)

    2.) Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.387s

    3.) Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +3.206s

    4.) Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +3.348s

    5.) Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +7.042s

    6.) Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +8.555s

    You can watch more action from the Pirelli French Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!