Magny-Cours World Superbike FP1 results: Rea top as Bassani suffers nasty fall

Jonathan Rea, fresh off his deal to join Yamaha in 2024, was fastest during the early stages as he led a factory Kawasaki 1-2.

Four tenths clear of Alex Lowes, Rea was also 1.2 seconds clear of championship leader Alvaro Bautista.

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Looking to find more time, Bautista was not shy in making overtakes as he swept across the front of Lucas Mahias coming out of turn one. 

After moving up to third, Toprak Razgatlioglu then continued his progress up the leaderboard as he went second - +0.294s off Rea’s top time.

Scott Redding was the next rider to show strong pace as he leapfrogged both factory Ducatis.

However, the BMW rider was still over seven tenths down on Rea, as the six-time world champion’s time was proving difficult to beat.

With 15 minutes remaining Razgatlioglu closed in on Rea after setting a time of 1:37.060s.

The 2021 world champion then threatened to take over top spot after going fastest in sector two, however, Rea’s very strong end to the lap meant Razgatlioglu couldn’t keep hold of his advantage.

A fast lap from Garrett Gerloff then saw the American leap into second spot, but like Razgatlioglu, the BMW rider was unable to break into the 1m 36s barrier.