Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global

Magny-Cours WSBK: Rea continues unbeaten pole run

Kawasaki star Jonathan Rea extended his run of pole positions in the 2021 World Superbike season after beating title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu in qualifying at Magny-Cours.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Rea was the last leading rider to cross the finish line in the 15-minute shootout, lapping the circuit in 1m35.683s to pip Razgatlioglu’s factory Yamaha by 0.101s and clinch his eighth consecutive pole of the year.

With this result, the six-time world champion surpassed Ben Spies' record of scoring most pole positions in a row, while also claiming a landmark 100th pole for Kawasaki in WSBK.

Apart from Rea and Razgatlioglu, BMW’s Tom Sykes was the only other rider to break the 1m36s barrier in qualifying, his time of 1m35.919s securing him a front row start for the second round in a row.

Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes led qualifying with five minutes to go with a time of 1m36.025s, but was shuffled down to fourth as other riders made improvements late in the session.

Andrea Locatelli rounded out the top five on the second of the factory Yamahas, while Leon Haslam posted a time of 1m36.258s to put his factory Honda on the outside of the second row.

Fresh off securing a contract extension for 2022, Michael Ruben Rinaldi was the lead Ducati rider in seventh, 0.732s off the pace of Rea’s Kawasaki.

Title contender Scott Redding endured a difficult qualifying on the second of the works Ducatis after topping FP3 earlier this morning, finishing eighth and nearly a tenth behind his younger teammate.

The British rider, who will move to BMW next year replacing Sykes, trails Rea and Razgatlioglu by 38 points with six rounds to run.

Redding will be joined on the third row of the grid by his 2022 teammate Michael van der Mark, while Lucas Mahias was due to line up 10th for Puccetti Kawasaki but has been ruled out of the race by injuries sustained in a crash.

Both GoEleven Ducati’s Chaz Davies and GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff missed out on a spot inside the top 10, ending up 11th and 12th, while Alvaro Bautista was also surprisingly off the pace in 14th on the second Honda - 1.586s down on the pole time.

Magny-Cours WSBK - Qualifying results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'35.683  
2 54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha 1'35.784 0.101
3 66 United Kingdom Tom Sykes BMW 1'35.919 0.236
4 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Kawasaki 1'36.025 0.342
5 55 Italy Andrea Locatelli Yamaha 1'36.201 0.518
6 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam Honda 1'36.258 0.575
7 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 1'36.415 0.732
8 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding Ducati 1'36.485 0.802
9 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark BMW 1'36.736 1.053
10 44 France Lucas Mahias Kawasaki 1'36.814 1.131
11 7 United Kingdom Chaz Davies Ducati 1'36.871 1.188
12 31 United States Garrett Gerloff Yamaha 1'36.926 1.243
13 47 Italy Axel Bassani Ducati 1'37.114 1.431
14 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Honda 1'37.269 1.586
15 53 Spain Tito Rabat Ducati 1'37.719 2.036
16 23 France Christophe Ponsson Yamaha 1'37.860 2.177
17 32 Spain Isaac Viñales Kawasaki 1'37.970 2.287
18 3 Japan Kohta Nozane Yamaha 1'37.997 2.314
19 94 Germany Jonas Folger BMW 1'38.184 2.501
20 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Honda 1'38.357 2.674
21 84 Belgium Loris Cresson Kawasaki 1'38.862 3.179

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Magny-Cours WSBK: Razgatlioglu heads practice from Redding, Rea
Next article Magny-Cours WSBK: Razgatlioglu beats Rea, disaster for Redding

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global