Now that the summer break is over, the Superbike World Championship returns to the track at the historic Magny Cours circuit, one of the “fiefdoms” of the world derivative championship since 1991.
The question is whether Toprak Razgatlioglu will continue to win and collect records or whether someone will be able to interrupt the incredible streak of 13 successes achieved by the Turkish phenomenon.
At the moment the only certainty is that the French track is one of Toprak’s favourites, having won here eight times, starting with his first Superbike success with the private Kawasaki of Team Puccetti, when in 2019 he closed the French weekend with a sensational double (Race 1 and Superpole Race).
It is therefore difficult to imagine seeing him in difficulty in this eighth round, but beyond the weather which sometimes subverts all predictions, many will try to oppose him, starting with the two riders of the Aruba.it Racing-Ducati team: Alvaro Bautista and Nicolò Bulega.
The Spaniard has just renewed with the Italian team and in the last races, from Most onwards, he has rediscovered the feeling with his Panigale V4, so much so that in Portimao he managed to question the supremacy of the Turkish rider. Standings in hand, his young teammate is Razgatlioglu’s main antagonist. Bulega is the only one to have always scored points and is ready to take advantage of every single misstep of the BMW rider to repeat his only victory so far at Phillip Island.
Staying at Ducati, eyes are on luxury privateers Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone. The first comes from an extremely positive round like the one in Portimao, while the second has never seen the French track, not even on a postcard, and so we need to see how he will adapt to such a particular track.
Only one rider has won more than Toprak at Magny Cours and that is Jonathan Rea (9 wins). The six-time world champion leads the Yamaha team that can count on our Andrea Locatelli, the Australian Remy Gardner and the desire to do well and show off of Alessandro Delbianco, called to replace the injured Dominque Aegerter. The young Italian rider will also race in Cremona in a fortnight in the ranks of Team Motoxracing, and here in France he will have the opportunity to get familiar with a completely different R1 from the one he races at the CIV.
Returning to BMW, it should be remembered that last year it was Garrett Gerloff who scored the pole position and it is therefore right to expect good performances from the American, who next year will join the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Team. Michael Van der Mark also deserves special attention, as he showed in Portimao that he is back in shape.
Kawasaki is banking on the excellent Alex Lowes, who has climbed onto the French podium five times in the past, while Axel Bassani’s progress with the Ninja will continue at Magny Cours.
Honda HRC riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge will look to build on their recent testing at Estoril, with the hope of finally taking the CBR 1000 RR-R to the top.
As always, let’s take a look at the tires because Pirelli will bring two new products to France. As for the dry tires, they are represented by a front SC1, in D0715 specification, which features a new carcass, and a rear SCX, in D0820 specification, which differs from the standard version in the compound.
The weather at Magny Cours often tends towards rain and for this reason the Italian tyre manufacturer, in addition to the standard SCR1, will also make available to WorldSBK riders a development version of the rear wet tyre, the D0737 specification, which features evolutions in both the structure and the compound.
