The opening race on Sunday in France was the Tissot-Superpole ‘sprint’ held over ten laps. Rea and Lowes were running just behind the top three battle when the two official Ducati riders touched, and Michael Ruben Rinaldi crashed out.

Jonathan was up to second at that point as Alvaro Bautista had lost his track position but he was unable to catch eventual race winner Toprak Razgatlioglu. Rea would finally finish third as Bautista came back through to second.

Lowes was in a strong position in the Superpole race but was forced out by a physical issue. Alex was also unfit for the Race Two after he felt some ‘clicks’ in his left knee during the Superpole Race.

In the last WorldSBK race of the weekend Rea was in a strong situation in the early laps but Dominique Aegerter was lying in a dangerous position on the track after a collision with another rider. The first attempted Race Two was soon red flagged and then re-run over 17 laps. The riders took their new grid slots from where they finished the red flagged ‘race.’

The fight for podium places between Rea and his old rival Toprak Razgatlioglu was as intense as ever in the restart. Bautista had made a break to take the race win but Rea and Razgatlioglu attacked at every opportunity in their efforts to finish second. Eventually Razgatlioglu would be the runner-up and Rea was a close third.

Three podium places for Rea made Magny Cours his second best weekend of the season and consolidated his grip on third place in the championship. He is now 34 points ahead of fourth placed Andrea Locatelli.

In the championship rankings, Bautista has 467 points, Razgatlioglu 410 and Rea 290. Lowes is eighth with 129 points.

The next round takes place at Motorland Aragon, between 29 September and 1 October.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “I am really happy to have taken three podium finishes this weekend. From Friday I felt like I had quite a good rhythm but then we didn’t go in the best direction with the set-up. In Race One and even in the Superpole Race I was happy with the bike set-up but I was not able to really ‘dance.’ In Race Two I felt much better from the get-go. I felt like I could do everything to be with Alvaro but he was just on a different level. In the first start of the final race he was making a lot of mistakes but just keeping the lap time. As soon as he cleaned up his riding style, he was gone. Nothing to do really, so I was quite happy that Toprak wasn’t just coming through on me. I could see on my pitboard that he was there behind me, so I thought that maybe today my pace was OK. In the last few laps I was fighting with him a lot - and enjoying it! Toprak in Magny Cours is really strong so I think it does show that we had a positive trend over the weekend, making the bike better. I could stop it quite well and we had good mechanical traction.”

Alex Lowes, stated: “Not much to say. I had been riding well so it is hard to accept. It was not as if I had a crash or anything. We knew very quickly that there was a problem, so I need to get my knee sorted properly and then get myself back to 100% fitness. It should be OK in two weeks. Let’s see if we can make it for the Aragon weekend.”

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 16th in the Superpole Race, the best of the Independent Kawasaki riders. He retired from Race Two with a technical issue.

Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing Kawasaki) was 19th in the Superpole Race and 16th in the 17-lap Race Two. Oliver König (Orelac Racing Movisio Kawasaki) was 21st in the Superpole Race and 18th in Race Two.

2023 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics

Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020
2023: Races 27, Wins 1, Podiums 13, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 119 (104 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 259 (217 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 41 (37 for Kawasaki)

Alex Lowes:
2023: Races: 26, Wins 0, Podiums 1, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 2 (1 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 34 (14 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)

8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)

Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 178 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 538 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 106 – second overall

                  #NinjaSpirit