13:37
Sportbike Superpole finish
Chequered flag is out for the Sportbike Superpole session and it's David Salvador who has pole position.
WorldSBK FP2 just over 20 minutes away now.
Iker Lecuona, 2026 French WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
French WorldSBK LIVE: Updates from Friday practice at Magny-Cours
Live coverage of the 2026 French WorldSBK Friday practice sessions from the Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours.
Live updates from the FP1 and FP2 sessions at the 2026 French WorldSBK at Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours. FP1 is due to start at 10:20 local time, with FP2 coming up this afternoon at 15:00.
Key Moments
- Crash for Lecuona in the opening five minutes
- FP2 starts in warm, dry conditions
- Bulega tops FP1 ahead of Sam Lowes & Lecuona
Nicolo Bulega comes to Magny-Cours as the WorldSBK championship leader. He arrives with 133 points of advantage over Iker Lecuona, meaning he has a mathematical chance, albeit an unlikely one, to clinch the title this weekend. He won here twice in 2024, but was beaten in all three races last year by Toprak Razgatlioglu. FP1 started with difficulty for Bulega, who had a technical problem in the early minutes, but the impact was minimised by a red flag, after which he was able to get back out on track and he ended the session fastest overall.
Speaking yesterday, Bulega said that his goal is to win the title at the next round in Italy, and that a decision on his future has been made and will be announced soon.
Iker Lecuona has already secured his future, being announced as a factory Ducati rider for 2027 in the summer break, shortly after winning his first WorldSBK race at Donington. He is the only rider with a mathematical possibility of beating Bulega in the championship, and was third-fastest this morning behind Bulega and Sam Lowes.
Yari Montella is third in the standings after eight rounds, and has finished the last seven races in third place. Before the summer, at Donington, he reiterated his target for the second part of the season to have a race at the front with the two factory Ducatis. We will see this weekend if that will be possible in France, but he started a little way off the pace of the top-three down in sixth.
Alex Lowes has largely been the 'best of the rest' behind the most competitive Ducatis this year, especially whenever Miguel Oliveira has been injured or missing some physical condition. Magny-Cours proved to be Bimota's strongest track in 2025, with Lowes on the podium in all three races, but he was only 10th-fastest in FP1 this morning, behind Kawasaki's Garrett Gerloff.
Honda was the manufacturer that tested the most in the summer, with two days at Magny-Cours in scorching conditions, and two more days at Estoril. The Magny-Cours test was a chance for both Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra to get up to speed with the French track, with both riders having not raced here before, and it worked well for Dixon in particular who was inside the top-six early on in FP1, although he finished down in 11th.
BMW were also present at both of those HRC tests. Miguel Oliveira's future has been confirmed this weekend already, he will remain with the team in 2027. For Danilo Petrucci, the news is the opposite - he will depart, as confirmed by him yesterday. Petrucci was the better of the BMWs in FP1, finishing eighth, while Oliveira was 16th.
04 Sep 2026
13:29
FP1 recap
FP1 saw Nicolo Bulega end fastest by almost 0.3 seconds ahead of Sam Lowes, while Iker Lecuona completed an all-Ducati top-three. Xavi Vierge was the only non-Ducati rider in the top-six.
Although he was fastest, things didn't start in the best way for Bulega, who suffered a technical problem on his first exit from the pits. He was given a reprieve by a red flag after eight or so minutes, which allowed the Ducati team to fix his bike, allowing him to complete the 37 minutes remaining after the red flag with no issues.
There were some promising signs for Jake Dixon, who finished 11th and spent time inside the top-10, and for Danilo Petrucci who was eighth-fastest a day after he confirmed he will not be a factory BMW rider in WorldSBK after the end of this season.
It was a relatively uneventful session in general, with the only crash being one for Bahattin Sofuoglu early on. The Turkish rider would finish slowest of the 21 riders - a reduced field this weekend thanks to Tarran Mackenzie's absence.
13:20
Sportbike is currently on-track for its Superpole session. 15 minutes remain, with Fenton Seabright currently leading the session ahead of Carter Thompson.
13:16
FP2
Welcome back to live coverage of today's WorldSBK action from Magny-Cours, where FP2 is due to get underway in around 45 minutes at 15:00 local time.
11:11
"Nothing closed" yet for Xavi Vierge but he "will stay" in WorldSBK
Xavi Vierge's future has been the focus of some speculation over the summer, largely thanks to Jack Miller's announced departure from Pramac Yamaha which is thought to lead to a Pata Yamaha ride in 2027.
The Spaniard would therefore be out of a ride, and he is thought to be in contention to land at Barni Ducati alongside Yari Montella.
Speaking yesterday, Vierge admitted that he doesn't have anything signed yet, but he is sure he will remain a WorldSBK rider next year.
Full story here.
Xavi Vierge, 2026 UK WorldSBK, grid. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
10:22
FP1 Results
2026 french worldsbk - fp1 results
Nicolo Bulega, 2026 French WorldSBK. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
10:15
Bulega tops FP1
Nicolo Bulega tops FP1 at Magny-Cours. Sam Lowes and Iker Lecuona complete the top-three ahead of Vierge, Surra, Montella, Baldassarri, Petrucci, Gerloff, and Alex Lowes in the top-10.
10:11
Run-on there for Alex Lowes at the Chateau d'Eau corner at the top of the hill after the second chicane.
10:08
Bulega improves again to a 1m35.556s, 0.284s is his gap now over Lowes with six minutes remaining.
10:06
Bulega to the top now on a 1m35.691s, 0.149s ahead of Sam Lowes.
Just those two and Lecuona in the 1m35s.
10:00
Into the final 15 minutes now, still Sam Lowes fastest, but Lecuona has just joined him in the 1m35s and less than 0.2s off the pace now.
09:50
Bulega down to a 1m36.104s to take back that P2 from Montella. Still only Sam Lowes in the 1m35s.
09:49
There was a technical problem for Montella earlier on, but he's just moved up to P2 and into the low-1m36s.
09:47
Sam Lowes the first rider to lap in the 1m35s and he's now 0.5s clear of Bulega at the top.
09:46
Good start in general for Honda with Chantra up in P9 at the moment as well.
09:46
Dixon continuing to lap well, P5 with his latest lap and only 0.3s off the top.
09:45
P2 for Bulega on lap three and down to 1m36.373s, just over a tenth behind Lowes.
09:44
P7 for Bulega on his second lap, 0.954s off the pace. Sam Lowes was behind him and improved to go fastest by 0.264s over Lecuona.
09:42
Bulega's bike is fixed, but his first lap puts him only P21, almost 3s off the pace. Should see that improve over the next few minutes assuming everything is working correctly on that #11 Ducati.
09:38
Session restart
Pit lane is back open in Magny-Cours and FP1 is resumed.
09:36
Session to restart in just over a minute.
09:34
Decent start from Dixon on the Honda in the first few minutes before the red flag - P3 and 0.5s off the pace of Sam Lowes at the top.
Obviously, there was a test for HRC at Magny-Cours a few weeks ago, as there was for Lowes and the Marc VDS team, so we'll see if that strong start fades away as others get up to speed through the weekend.
09:29
Red flag
Red flag is out at Magny-Cours, "track conditions" in the first two turns the stated cause. 37 minutes remaining.
09:26
Away from the early complications for Oliveira and Bulega, Sam Lowes has gone fastest early on, ahead of Alex Lowes by just under 0.3 seconds.
09:23
Technical problem for Bulega, it looks like. He's cruising back to the pits on his first flying lap.