Magny-Cours World Superbike Race (2) results: Bautista returns to form

Results from Race 2, round nine of the 2023 World Superbike championship at Magny-Cours, France.

10 Sep 2023

Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Misano 2023

Prior to the race getting underway, Alex Lowes was declared unfit due to a knee injury suffered in the Superpole Race.

Starting from pole for the first time this weekend, Razgatlioglu had a shocking start as Bautista, Rea and Locatelli all came past.

Taking the lead of a race for the first time, Rea dove to the inside of Bautista at turn five but was unable to make it stick as the Ducati rider was better under acceleration.

A strong start from Danilo Petrucci saw him move up to fourth, however, it was Michael Ruben Rinaldi who made the best launch as he came from the fourth row to P6 by the end of lap one.

As Bautista began to pull clear of Rea and Razgatlioglu, there was another collision involving Scott Redding as he crashed at turn five with Dominique Aegerter.

A red flag was then brought out as Aegerter was struggling to get up from the accident.

Redding was given a double Long Lap penalty after causing the incident with Aegerter.

When the race got back underway it was Bautista leading the field away from pole, ahead of Rea and Razgatlioglu.

After making a very good start, Bradley Ray crashed out of ninth position at turn 14.

At the front, Bautista was beginning to pull clear as early as lap one as Razgatlioglu, who had a new tyre for the restart, made his way past Rea.

The Kawasaki rider fought straight back as he went through at turn five, but like the initial start when he went slightly wide, the exit of turn five gave Razgatlioglu the chance to get a better exit and power back past.

Showing impressive speed, Rea remained close to Razgatlioglu before pulling off another move at turn five, although this time he made it stick.

Redding’s eventful day then came to an end with 7 laps remaining as he ran into technical issues.

Razgatlioglu and Rea’s battle continued as the 2021 world champion came through at turn five with five laps to go.

As Rinaldi retired due to technical issues, Rea tried to get back through on Razgatlioglu at turn five but ran wide while doing so which allowed the Yamaha rider to stay ahead.

2023 World Superbike Magny-Cours, France - Race (2) Results
Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	21 Laps
2	Toprak Razgatlioglu	TUR	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+5.893s
3	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+6.779s
4	Andrea Locatelli	ITA	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+10.978s
5	Garrett Gerloff	USA	Bonovo Action BMW	+11.482s
6	Axel Bassani	ITA	Motocorsa Ducati	+15.258s
7	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	Barni Spark Racing Team	+17.578s
8	Remy Gardner	AUS	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+19.576s
9	Xavi Vierge	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+19.937s
10	Philipp Oettl	GER	GoEleven Ducati	+19.986s
11	Iker Lecuona	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+22.640s
12	Loris Baz	FRA	Bonovo Action BMW	+27.073s
13	Lorenzo Baldassarri	ITA	GMT94 Yamaha	+27.428s
14	Hafizh Syahrin	MAL	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+41.742s
15	Hannes Soomer	EST	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+45.875s
16	Isaac Vinales	SPA	TPR by Vinales Racing	+46.219s
17	Bradley Ray	GBR	Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+55.481s
18	Oliver Konig	CZE	Orelac Racing Kawasaki	+58.003s
19	Scott Redding	GBR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	DNF
20	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	ITA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	DNF
21	Dominique Aegerter	SWI	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	DNF
22	Michael Van Der Mark	NED	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	DNF
23	Lucas Mahias	FRA	Puccetti Kawasaki	DNF
24	Alex Lowes	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	DNS