WSBK rookie Biaggi clinched his third victory of the season in front of his adoring home fans in last Sunday's opening race, before being forced to settle for second to
Troy Bayliss in the final outing.
With Toseland third in race one, then falling in race two - the Roman Emperor has closed to within 29 points of the Ten Kate Honda rider, with 50 points to be decided in this weekend's Magny-Cours finale.
It's undoubtedly a long shot, and Max will also need to keep one eye on his slender four-point lead over Haga, but the former
MotoGP star - who had his first ever outing on the Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Magny-Cours at the end of last season - intends to put as much pressure as possible on Toseland and exploit any error the Englishman may make.
"This will be an interesting weekend for sure and I will be doing my best to put pressure on Toseland throughout the weekend. He is an experienced rider, but anything can happen in racing and I want to be a position to capitalise on any mistakes," explained Max. "At least I am no stranger to Mangy-Cours, but the Suzuki is now very different to when I made my first test of it at the end of last season. For me, I will start my usual way of working with the bike's set-up and try and get it right for the race. I am confident that I can make some good results this weekend, but what will happen yet I do not know. We shall just have to see."
Team-mate
Yukio Kagayama is travelling to the French circuit, but does not yet know if he will be able to race. His injured right hand and knee caused him to pull out of last weekend's event at Vallelunga, but the Japanese rider is determined to race at Mangy-Cours if he feels he can. He will go out on Friday morning practice and see how his injuries hold up before making a decision.
