The World Superbike Championship is back after the summer break, and Jonathan Rea was the fastest rider on the opening day at Magny-Cours, with his time coming from the first session.
The British rider left no room for competition in FP1, leading the session. He edged out Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) by 0.157s, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) in third, just 0.160s behind. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati), the championship leader, finished sixth, trailing by 0.567s.
Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing/Ducati) suffered a crash that resulted in the premature end of the session with a red flag. The rider was taken to the circuit’s medical center but did not sustain major injuries.
In FP2, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) led for over 20 minutes, but in the final moments, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) took the top spot. The Italian rider edged out Gerloff by eight thousandths of a second. Razgatlioglu finished third ahead of Bautista, with Scott Redding (BMW) completing the top five.
Despite finishing seventh in FP2, Rea did not improve on his FP1 time. Nevertheless, his morning lap time was enough to make him the fastest rider of the day, leading by 0.073s over Rinaldi. Gerloff was third, trailing by 0.081s. Razgatlioglu finished fourth, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) was fifth, and Bautista was sixth.
Combined timesheet FP1 + FP2: