The French Round ends with a great race for Scott Redding who overcomes the difficulties of Saturday and conquers the podium after fighting for the lead until mid-race. After a negative Superpole Race, Michael Rinaldi recovers positions in Race-2 to close in seventh place.
Here are the highlights of Sunday at Magny-Cours circuit.
- Superpole Race
P5 – Scott Redding takes a significant step forward in terms of feeling. The English rider is not incisive at the start but, since the first laps, his convincing race pace allows him to conquer the fifth position and the second row of the grid for Race 2.
P10 – Very difficult Superpole Race for Michael Rinaldi who doesn’t find the good feelings of Race-1. After a positive start, the Italian rider is forced to close in 10th position.
- Superpole Results
P1 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha)
P2 – J. Rea (Kawasaki)
P3 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki)
P4 – A. Locatelli (Yamaha)
P5 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
P10 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- RACE-2
P3 – Scott Redding is determined to stay with the podium group and, already on the third lap after the crash of Lowes (Kawasaki), he sticks to Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) and Rea (Kawasaki).
From the middle of the race, however, the pace of the English rider is not enough to be able to keep fighting for the victory.
P7 – A solid start for Michael Rinaldi allows him to recover immediately 5 positions. Between the fourth and the seventh lap, the Italian rider engages in a good duel with Davies (Ducati) and Van der Mark (BMW) but then he can’t defend himself from Bautista’s (Honda) attack; the Italian rider finishes the race in seventh position.
- Race-2 Results
P1 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha)
P2 – J. Rea (Kawasaki)
P3 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
P4 – A. Locatelli (Yamaha)
P5 – C. Davies (Ducati)
P7 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- Championship Standings
P1 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 370
P2 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 363
P3 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 298
P4 – A. Locatelli (Yamaha) 186
P5 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) 176
P6 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 172
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“I’m satisfied with this result, especially because during the weekend we were able to improve the bike, mainly in the braking phase which was the principal problem. I tried in the first part of the race to stay with Jonny and Toprak but then I preferred not to risk and bring home an important result for the team”.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“All in all it wasn’t a bad weekend because we understood many things that can be useful in the next rounds. It’s clear that the result of Race-2 is not exciting; despite that, the pace was positive, on the level of Scott who finished on the podium. Obviously, we can’t be satisfied with a seventh place finish but I’ll come back home from this French Round with positive feelings”.
