French WorldSBK LIVE: Updates from Friday practice at 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.