Van Der Mark wins Race 1, Bulega and Rea crash – WSBK Race 1 Recap

Michael Van Der Mark took a surprise victory in a wet Race 1 of the World Superbikes in France at Magny-Cours, as Toprak Razgatlioglu has been forced to sit out the French round due to a collapsed lung.

After a relatively clean getaway for the field, split by tyre strategy on the somewhat damp circuit – it would be the slick tyre runners who found themselves at the front of the grid, as the wet tyre runners slipped further through the field. Both Nicolo Bulega and Jonathan Rea would crash at the final corner on the first lap, in two unrelated incidents.

Rea would clutch at his left hand, later being declared unfit to take any further part in the WSBK French round

Andrea Locatelli would crash at Turn 5 just a few laps in due to rain pouring down, with the slick tyre and intermediate compound runners all struggling, with the wet tyre runners coming back into the fray. Garrett Gerloff would run on the Intermediate tyre, eventually coming through to take the lead, as Alex Lowes struggled on the slick tyres.

Alvaro Bautista had managed to recover a few positions before coming into the pit lane to fit the wet tyres early on, as Remy Gardner would eventually crash as well. With a lot of riders coming in to fit the wet tyres, Gerloff would stay out aboard his Bonovo Action BMW, albeit on the Intermediate tyres.

Bautista would gain multiple places in the pit stop window, coming out in fifth place after starting from outside the Top 15. Alex Lowes would overtake Michael Van Der Mark for second coming out of the pit lane, the rain beginning to fall even heavier. Van Der Mark would strike back at Lowes just one lap later in the technical middle section of the circuit, as the riders struggled greatly with the conditions and also, the kerbs and white lines which became much more slippery in the wet conditions.

Gerloff would extend his lead to half a minute, before eventually going down at Turn 7, the BMW sliding out from underneath the American midway through the corner. However, despite crashing, Gerloff would still hold a 5-second lead before eventually coming into the pit lane for the wet tyres. The BMW rider would eventually come out of the pits and rejoin the race in ninth place, coming out just behind Bradley Ray.

As Lowes’ Kawasaki managed to pass Van Der Mark at the half race distance, Axel Bassani would fall off from his Kawasaki. Just one lap later, Lowes would find himself crashing down at Turn 14, the front of his Kawasaki giving out from underneath him on the entry to the corner. Lowes would eventually come back from his crash in seventh place as he rejoined the race.

Gerloff would be given a one-minute time penalty after coming out of the pit lane before the required time, as Alvaro Bautista found himself in second place after starting from 17th place. Bradley Ray would also fall off his Yamaha in the later stages of the race, as Andrea Iannone found himself being overtaken by Scott Redding and Alex Lowes.

However, in another cruel twist of fate, Lowes’ Kawasaki would have some bodywork damage, that would cause him to retire from the first race with just a handful of laps remaining.

Scott Redding, despite crashing earlier in the race, would close on Danilo Petrucci in the closing stages, taking multiple seconds out of the Italian ahead.

In the final few laps, Sam Lowes and Remy Gardner would both come down and crash out of the race in unrelated incidents, both of their bikes came down on corner entry to low speed right-handers, with a lot of the field struggling in the low speed corners.

However, to take his sixth World Superbike victory, Michael Van Der Mark would fight mother nature to take an extraordinary win in rain-soaked conditions which only saw 12 finishing riders out of 22.

WorldSBK French Round – Race 1 Results

1st Michael Van Der Mark, BMW
2nd Alvaro Bautista, Ducati
3rd Danilo Petrucci, Ducati
4th Scott Redding, BMW
5th Andrea Iannone, Ducati
6th Iker Lecuona, Honda
7th Xavi Vierge, Honda
8th Andrea Locatelli, Yamaha
9th Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Ducati
10th Alessandro Delbianco, Yamaha
11th Axel Bassani, Kawasaki
12th Garrett Gerloff, Yamaha
DNF Sam Lowes, Honda
DNF Remy Gardner, Yamaha
DNF Alex Lowes, Kawasaki
DNF Bradley Ray, Yamaha
DNF Tarran Mackenzie, Honda
DNF Philip Oettl, Yamaha
DNF Tito Rabat, Kawasaki
DNF Miguel Ivo Lopez, Honda
DNF Jonathan Rea, Yamaha
DNF Nicolo Bulega, Ducati

The World Superbike Championship Race 2 starts at 14:30 on Sunday afternoon, UK Time.

Featured Image: BMW Group