WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu reigns supreme with dominant display in France

The eighth round of the 2021 Superbike World Championship takes place this weekend in Magny-Cours, France. In Race One, Jonathan Rea started from pole position, having become the first ever rider in WorldSBK history to secure eight consecutive Superpoles.

Jonathan Rea made a good launch off the line, but it was Toprak Razgatlioglu who made the holeshot from second on the grid. 

Rea was able to out-drag the Yamaha rider to turn four, the Adelaide Hairpin, and his Kawasaki Racing Team teammate, Alex Lowes, was also able to pass the #54 on the brakes into the slowest corner on the circuit.

Lowes then lost out to Razgatlioglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the run from turn four to turn five, and a couple of corners of Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu let Rea escape slightly.

The reigning World Champion led the opening lap, and it looked in the early stages as though he would receive some assistance in terms of the championship from his teammate, Lowes, who passed Rinaldi into turn four on the second lap, and began to pressure the #54. 

Razgatlioglu, though, was able to push on and catch Rea over the next two laps. The Turk hit the front again on lap four at Adelaide, and while Rea was able to stay within half a second for a few laps, as they entered the final 10 laps, Razgatlioglu and the Yamaha began to edge away while Rea seemed to suffer with the front tyre. 

It has become a common occurrence, for Kawasaki’s Rea to begin to suffer more with the front tyre as the race draws on compared to the Yamaha, which has a slight edge on speed. In addition, Razgatlioglu’s prowess under braking means the Kawasaki loses speed on the straight, and the rider struggles to make the time back on the brakes. This means the Kawasaki riders push the front even harder, and that leads them to wear the front tyre harder, even with a harder compound front tyre. 

This was highlighted by Alex Lowes, who crashed on the front into the 180-degree corner after the Nurburgring chicane towards the end of the race while coming under pressure from Andrea Locatelli. 

Locatelli was coming on strong in the final laps, having cleared Michael Ruben Rinaldi with whom he fought for much of the race. The Italian was catching Lowes, who probably knew that should he be caught by the #55 he would struggle to come out on top, such is the way the Yamaha riders are able to protect their front tyre compared to the Kawasaki pilots. It was an unfortunate mistake for Lowes, but for Locatelli it meant an end to his five-race fourth place streak, as he took his third podium of the season. 

Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s pace suffered in the final part of the race, but it was arguably the best showing from the Italian-Venezuelan since his triumphant weekend in Misano. Behind, Michael van der Mark completed the top five despite yet another mechanical issue in free practice three, while Alvaro Bautista was the top Honda in sixth. Chaz Davies finished seventh as the top Independent rider, ahead of Axel Bassani, Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam, who completed the top 10. 

Garrett Gerloff’s recent struggles continue, and the American finished 11th, while for Scott Redding the race was nothing short of a disaster; struggling for pace and running wide at the Adelaide Hairpin on many occasions, before a crash. He was able to remount and finish 12th, but he dropped 21 points to the new points leader, Razgatlioglu, who now leads the #45 by 59 points. 

Christophe Ponsson was 13th, ahead of Tito Rabat who was 14th on his Magny-Cours debut; while Isaac Vinales took the final point in 15th. Jonas Folger missed out on points in 16th, ahead of Kohta Nozane and Loris Cresson, who was last of the 18 finishers. 

Aside from the aforementioned Lowes, Leandro Mercado was the only retirement, crashing out unharmed on lap seven.