FIM Superbike World Championship
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
WorldSBK of France
Kawasaki Battles for Wins and Top Finishes at Magny-Cours
Kawasaki riders delivered strong results across WorldSPB, WorldSBK, and WorldSSP competition at Magny-Cours, highlighted by Xavi Artigas’ WorldSPB Race 2 victory. Championship leader David Salvador earned second in Race 1 before finishing fourth in Race 2, while Loris Veneman recorded fifth- and sixth-place finishes, and Antonio Torres secured a third-place podium in Race 1 before being sidelined in Race 2. In WorldSBK, bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team rider Alex Lowes finished fifth in the Superpole Race before recovering to 13th in Race 2, while teammate Axel Bassani climbed from 17th on the grid to finish ninth. Kawasaki WorldSBK Team rider Garrett Gerloff charged to seventh in Race 2 as the top Kawasaki finisher. In WorldSSP, Jeremy Alcoba battled near the front throughout a shortened five-lap restart to finish fifth, while teammate Dominique Aegerter secured 15th and another championship point.
WorldSBK Results
Alex Lowes
WorldSBK
“Fifth in the Superpole Race was quite good, but it was a disappointing end to the weekend. I was riding the bike on the limit, and in the final race I wanted to try to get past Alberto Surra, maybe dreaming about the podium. Maybe that was unrealistic, and possibly I was pushing 110% to try to stay with the group of Ducatis. I was a little bit out of the line, and I was going to hit the back of him, so I just went a bit wider. I did not want to blow the corner, because [Lorenzo] Baldassarri was catching up. I tried to put the bike into the turn, and I had such a small crash on the front. The punishment does not really fit the crime. I feel I did my maximum all weekend. When I got back on the bike, it was quite bent, and I did not have a footpeg on the right-hand side, but we were still quite competitive. Thank you to everyone for the support, and we will try again at the next round to see if we can get a bit closer to the podium.”
Axel Bassani
WorldSBK
“Each day has been difficult since we arrived in Magny-Cours. We arrived in Race 2 with similar difficulties as we had from Friday morning. We tried everything and worked hard with the team to try to fix the problem, but it was not possible. Starting from P17 is always difficult. We made a big recovery in Race 1 yesterday, and also in the Superpole Race. After six laps, I was in P9, but then there was a small technical problem, and I went long in one corner, lost a lot of places, and had to start again from 17th position. In Race 2, I tried to recover the maximum number of places, finished P9, and we got some points. In the end, we fixed the weekend a little bit, so thank you to the team for all their work.”
Garrett Gerloff
WorldSBK
“I felt like from the beginning of the weekend we had a bike for one single lap time, which we proved in Superpole Qualifying until a yellow flag canceled my best lap time. I felt great in general for one lap, but was struggling for a longer race pace. We tried some stuff in the Superpole Race, but I felt that it was not 100% helping me. We got it all sorted out in Race 2, so I felt I had a good final race. I was able to push and be as close as I could to the front. We got two Top 10s in France, which is not bad. Now, we head to Cremona for the team’s home race and we will try to do better there.”
Jeremy Alcoba
WorldSSP
“I am happy with myself and the work of the team to be as fast as we were on Sunday, but we had some issues during the weekend. Yesterday, and also today, we had some technical issues. In the Sunday race, I had some problems with the brakes. I am happy because I made a really good comeback, and the pace was amazing in the red-flagged race. In the final race, I was there fighting for the victory, but with my small problem I could not attack until the end. We were a bit unlucky this weekend, but we have our heads up and are working for the next one, which will be a home race for the team.”
Dominique Aegerter
WorldSSP
“We took one point today, which is better than nothing, but for sure it is not where we wanted to be. I can say that I gave everything and pushed very hard. Race 2 was red-flagged in the middle, so we had a small sprint race over five laps. We had a big fight with many different riders and got one point taken away. We will work hard with the team and I will work hard at home to be better and give even more. Everybody works very hard, but the results don’t show it. Big congrats to Jeremy [Alcoba] because he did a great job, and he shows that the bike can be fast. We never give up, and in three weeks there will be the Cremona race weekend, the home round of the team, and a little bit of a home round for me as well.”
