Rea dominates opening practice at Magny-Cours

Rea dominates opening practice at Magny-Cours

Jonathan Rea dominated the opening practice of the ninth round of the WorldSBK championship in Magny-Cours following a lengthy summer break.

The weekend’s first session at Magny-Cours saw a few familiar faces ascend to the top. The riders who are back in action after their summer break are once more in pursuit of their campaigns as usual after a week of upheaval in the rider market.

Jonathan Rea, who is headed for Yamaha, pushed his Kawasaki to the top slot in the opening session of the weekend. However, after a couple time attacks later in the race, the British rider barely managed to hold onto the lead.

Garrett Gerloff surprised everyone by finishing second in Free Practice 1 after making his way into the top two on his BMW through a time attack in the final moments of the session.

At the conclusion of Free Practice One, the Pata Yamaha’s two riders placed third and fourth. In the session, Toprak Razgatlioglu narrowly edged off his Italian teammate for third place and enjoyed a solid start to his weekend. Andrea Locatelli came in fourth after an impressive performance.

Meanwhile, Alex Lowes could not keep up with his teammates’ pace, finishing in fifth place and 0.4 seconds behind Rea.

Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who were both running the Aruba.it Racing – Ducatis, finished the first practice in sixth and seventh, respectively.

Scott Redding marked the second BMW rider to finish in the top ten as he placed eighth at the end of the session despite rumors about his future in 2024.

Axel Bassani forced a premature end to Free Practice 1 after crashing in the closing moments of the practice prompting a Red Flag. However, the young Italian rider got back up and proceeded to finish ninth on the timesheets.

Danilo Petrucci encountered a problem at the start of the practice session, but he was able to make it back to the track at the end of the session and record a lap time that landed him in tenth place.

2023 French WorldSBK Magny-Cours FP1 Results

PosRiderNatTeamMotorcycleLap Time
1Jonathan ReaGBRKawasaki Racing TeamKawasaki ZX-10RR1m 36.900
2Garrett GerloffUSABonovo RacingBMW M 1000 RR1m 37.057
3Toprak RazgatliogluTURPata Crescent RacingYamaha R11m 37.060
4Andrea LocatelliITAPata Crescent RacingYamaha R11m 37.142
5Alex LowesGBRKawasaki Racing TeamKawasaki ZX-10RR1m 37.331
6Alvaro BautistaESPAruba DucatiDucati Panigale V4 R1m 37.467
7Michael Ruben RinaldiITAAruba DucatiDucati Panigale V4 R1m 37.477
8Scott ReddingGBRBMW Motorrad WorldSBKBMW M 1000 RR1m 37.635
9Axel BassaniITAMotocorsa RacingDucati Panigale V4 R1m 37.662
10Danilo PetrucciITABarni Spark RacingDucati Panigale V4 R1m 37.744
11Michael van der MarkNEDBMW Motorrad WorldSBKBMW M 1000 RR1m 37.878
12Xavi ViergeESPTeam HRCHonda CBR1000RR-R1m 38.068
13Philipp OettlGERGo ElevenDucati Panigale V4 R1m 38.114
14Dominique AegerterSUIGYTR GRTYamaha R11m 38.128
15Iker LecuonaESPTeam HRCHonda CBR1000RR-R1m 38.218
16Lorenzo BaldassarriITAGMT 94Yamaha R11m 38.283
17Loris BazFRABonovo RacingBMW M 1000 RR1m 38.286
18Remy GardnerAUSGYTR GRTYamaha R11m 38.316
19Bradley RayGBRMotoxracingYamaha R11m 38.364
20Isaac VinalesESPTPR by Vinales RacingKawasaki ZX-10RR1m 39.026
21Lucas MahiasFRAPuccetti RacingKawasaki ZX-10RR1m 39.713
22Hannes SoomerESTMIE RacingHonda CBR1000RR-R1m 40.029
23Oliver KonigCZEOrelac RacingKawasaki ZX-10RR1m 40.471
Hafizh SyahrinMALMIE RacingHonda CBR1000RR-RNo Time Set

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