Magny-Cours, Race 1: Triumph victory for Seabright – penalty for championship leader

Magny-Cours is the sixth of eight race weekends in the 2026 Sportbike World Championship. The new entry-level series last took to the track at Misano on 14 June. Twelve weeks have passed since then!

In Friday’s Superpole, David Salvador secured pole position for the fourth time in a row. The Kawasaki rider leads the overall standings by 34 points ahead of Antonio Torres. His team-mates Loris Veneman and Xavi Artigas completed the front row. Kove rider Phillip Tonn remains sidelined at Magny-Cours due to a hand injury, whilst Suzuki’s star rider Jeffrey Buis is also forced to miss the race weekend in France.

At the start of the race at 1.00 pm, the thermometer read a pleasant 25 degrees Celsius. The race consisted of eleven laps. Salvador won the sprint to the first corner, entering it in the lead ahead of Torres and Vanucci. Behind them were Artigas, Veneman and Torres. It was quite tight in the opening corners, but there were only minor contacts.

Salvador emerged from the first lap with a lead of two bike lengths over Artigas. The top two had already pulled slightly clear, but the fastest lap of the race was set in the second lap by Pepe Osuna (Kawasaki) in seventh position with a time of 1:46.041 minutes.

On lap 3, Artigas briefly took the lead, but Salvador reclaimed it straight away. The battle for position at the front allowed the chasing pack to close the gap once more. The top 10 were separated by just 1.9 seconds, and by the very next lap, Fenton Seabright (Triumph) had taken the lead.

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Two seconds behind the leading group, things were also in disarray amongst the chasing pack. Marco Gaggi (Yamaha), in 14th place, set the fastest lap of the race in Lap 5 with a time of 1:45.696.

In the second half of the race, Seabright, Salvador, Torres and Artigas took turns at the front on several occasions. Some way behind, Veneman, Osuna and Carter Thompson (Yamaha) battled for fifth place. Suzuki rider Ferre Fleerackers showed real drive, turning the trio into a quartet from lap 7 onwards.

With two laps to go, a group of five broke away and battled it out amongst themselves for the win. Salvador had already built up a lead of several metres, but was caught again. With the fastest lap of the race in 1:45.425 mins, Seabright moved into position and took the lead at the start of the final lap. The Triumph rider’s blistering pace prevented any overtaking manoeuvres, but as they braked for Turn 13, Salvador found a gap and reclaimed first place.

On the final lap, the Spaniard spread out and crossed the line 0.137 seconds ahead of Seabright and Torres. However, in the final chicane, the Madrid-born rider exceeded the track limit and was demoted to second place. The victory was awarded to Seabright. Torres finished third.

In Buis’s absence, Fleeracker secured Suzuki’s best finish in sixth place. Once again, Carter Thompson was the best Yamaha rider, finishing in seventh place. Aprilia rider Matteo Vannucci narrowly missed out on the top 10, finishing eleventh. The final points-scoring position went to Kove ace Benat Fernandez.