Xavi Artigas (Kawasaki): “It was important to win at Magny-Cours”

The 2026 Sportbike World Championship is shaping up to be a title race for Kawasaki and a head-to-head battle between the ProDina and Moto Tuning Mol (MTM) teams, as well as riders David Salvador and Xavier Artigas. At the round at Magny-Cours, Artigas closed the gap on his compatriot by five points with a fourth-place finish and a win – with two rounds remaining, the two 23-year-olds are separated by 30 points.

Artigas is the more inconsistent of the two title contenders. He has two wins and four podium finishes, compared with two wins and eight top-three finishes from twelve races. Both have suffered one crash. The Catalan knows that his deficit will be difficult to make up at Cremona and Jerez.

“I’m delighted to be back on the top step of the podium after Aragon and to have had a successful weekend in France. It was incredibly important to win here. We want to continue on this path in Cremona too,” emphasised the MTM rider. “We’ve worked well together, improved the bike step by step and found the feeling we needed in Sunday’s race to secure the win. I’m pleased with the team’s work and would like to thank everyone who supports us.”

As a reminder: with three riders’ championships (Jeffrey Buis 2020/2023, Adrian Huertas 2021), MTM is the most successful team in the now-defunct Supersport 300 World Championship.

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