Jake Dixon (11th): His first World Championship points with Honda’s best finish of the season so far!

Normally, an eleventh-place finish wouldn’t cause much of a stir, but Jake Dixon deserves praise for his performance. Magny-Cours is only the third race weekend of the 2026 Superbike World Championship in which the Englishman has taken part. In fact, however, it is the first round at which the Honda rider has been largely free of discomfort.

The rookie sustained a protracted hand injury in a crash during the Phillip Island test ahead of the season opener, missed the first five rounds of the 2026 Superbike World Championship, made a premature comeback at MotorLand Aragón (opting out of Sunday’s race) and sat out Misano. Dixon completed his first full race weekend on the CBR1000RR-R at his home race at Donington Park, but there he pinched a nerve in his right arm and was in agony.

The 30-year-old proved why he is Honda’s hope at Magny-Cours. After finishing 10th in Superpole, the long-serving Moto2 rider crossed the line in 11th place in the first race. On both occasions, he equalled Honda’s best results to date. Previously, only test rider Jonathan Rea had achieved a tenth place on the grid during his one-off appearance at Donington Park. Tetsuta Nagashima had secured 11th place in a race during the second race at Phillip Island, also as a wildcard entry.

Incidentally, his team-mate Somkiat Chantra qualified in 16th place only; the Thai rider crashed during the race.

I think I could have caught the riders in front of me.

Honda works rider Jake Dixon

Dixon is convinced that, had it not been for the race being stopped and restarted, a better finish would have been possible. “It’s a real shame about the red flag,” said the father of a young daughter, expressing his frustration. “I felt really good at the first start. I got off to a good start and, after the first few laps, got into a good rhythm with Axel. I was quite happy with that, but then, unfortunately, the red flag was waved. I hope everyone’s all right.”

When the race was halted, Dixon was just 0.3 seconds behind Bimota rider Axel Bassani. As a reminder: Bimota is the second-strongest team this year, behind Ducati! “At the restart, however, I didn’t get off to a particularly good start. That meant I fell back a bit and I didn’t feel so good in the first few laps,” reported the Honda rider. “But then I managed to make up a few places again. My pace towards the end was good, and I would have liked to have done a few more laps. I think I could have caught the riders right in front of me. It was the first time I’d been in a situation like that in the Superbike World Championship. It takes a bit of time to learn the ropes, but I learnt a lot in this race.”