2025 French WorldSBK: Friday Practice LIVE UPDATES

Bulega up to third late on with a 1:37.183.

Vierge now up to third with a 1:37.208. Decent late speed here from the Honda rider.

Really strong late run from Sam Lowes, consistently in those low-1:37s. He's able to be faster than Razgatlioglu's benchmark in the first three splits but he just loses out in the final sector.

Vierge into the top-10 in P8 with a 37.456 with his latest lap.

4 minutes remaining now.

Sam Lowes up to second with 6 minutes on the clock with a 1:37.152.

Mackenzie having a really strong session, still ninth and 0.865s behind Razgatlioglu.

Another improvement for Razgatlioglu - 1:36.930 now.

Razgatlioglu gets us into the 1:36s with a 1:36.983. 0.257s clear of Petrucci now.

Petrucci riding slowly. He was looking down at the left side of his bike, seems to be on his way back to the pits now.

Decent lap from van der Mark, gets up to sixth and within half-a-second of his teammate. Probably his best showing of the season so far. 

Remember, of course, the BMW was strong here last year, topping FP2 with Garrett Gerloff. Van der Mark also won Race 1 in the wet.

Bulega up to fourth on his latest lap, 1:37.375 and 0.350s behind Razgatlioglu.

International TV feed reporting Garcia's problem at the beginning was an electrical problem. He's still 22nd at the moment and 2.9s off the pace.

Into the final 20 minutes now and many riders heading back out on track now. Not many improvements coming in at the minute, the focus on race pace for most riders at the moment.

Sergio Garcia has only completed two laps so far, unsure what kept him in the garage for so long at the start of the session. He's 22nd of the 23 runners at the moment and 3.2s off the pace.

Most riders back in the pits now.

Razgatlioglu still fastest from Petrucci, Locarelli, Alex Lowes. Bulega, Sam Lowes, Bautista, Mackenzie, van der Mark, and Rea in the top-10.

Razgatlioglu now extends his lead to 0.214s over Petrucci with a 1:37.026.

Petrucci now up to second and 0.092s behind Razgatlioglu. Locatelli has also improved and is now 0.103s off the top.

Razgatlioglu to the top now, 0.197s ahead of Locatelli.

Sam Lowes fastest at the moment on a 1:37.656, Alex Lowes second at present only 0.083s adrift.

Iker Lecuona is the only rider injured in Hungary before the summer break to still be out of action here in France.

The Honda rider is replaced this weekend by Sergio Garcia, who rode at the two-day test last week in Aragon.

This weekend is also the first race for Jonathan Rea since he announced his retirement. He's won here nine times in the past and won two of his titles here. He's currently 15th in this FP1 session.

Pit lane is open in Magny-Cours and we are underway for FP1 in France.

26 points separate Razgatlioglu and Bulega at the top of the championship heading into this weekend.

The Turkish rider took his first WorldSBK race win here in 2019, and has won eight races here in total.

Bulega won twice here in his rookie year 12 months ago, and is twice a winner here in WorldSSP.

Razgatlioglu, of course, is returning this weekend to the circuit that almost ended his title charge last year in FP1 when he crashed at the penultimate turn and suffered a punctured lung.

Reference times for you to have an idea of where the pace is this morning:

Pole record: 1:35.453 (Gerloff, 2023)

Race record: 1:36.084 (Bautista, 2023 SP Race)

Cloudy conditions in Magny-Cours ahead of this first practice of the weekend but the track is dry.