Magny-Cours, Race 2: Bulega leads Ducati sextet – setback for BMW

To avoid clashing with the Formula 1 race at Monza, the second Superbike race at Magny-Cours took place at 2.00 pm, deviating from the main schedule.

At the start of the race, a few clouds drifted over the circuit and, at 28 degrees Celsius, it was slightly cooler than the weather forecasts had predicted. The riders had to complete 21 laps. 50,013 spectators watched the ninth round of the season in person.

The starting grid had not changed significantly as a result of the Superpole race. Nicolo Bulega took pole position for the third time this weekend, whilst his Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Iker Lecuona moved up to second on the grid. Yari Montella (Ducati) completed the front row. Sam Lowes (Ducati), who had crashed in the sprint, had to start the race from tenth place.

Bimota rider Alex Lowes moved up one place to fifth on the grid. Remy Gardner, the highest-placed Yamaha rider, made a significant leap from 13th to 8th. Other positions: Jake Dixon (11th/Honda), Garrett Gerloff (13th/Kawasaki), Danilo Petrucci (19th/BMW).

Bulega set an extremely fast first lap and pulled away from Lecuona with every subsequent lap; after two laps, his lead was already 0.7 seconds. Meanwhile, Surra had moved up past Montella into third place. For Locatelli, the race was effectively over following contact with his team-mate Stefano Manzi at Turn 17.

By the end of the fifth of 21 laps, the field had settled. Bulega was now leading by 1.9 seconds ahead of Lecuona and 4.2 seconds ahead of Montella, Alberto Surra (Ducati) and Alex Lowes. Bridewell, Vierge, Gardner and Gerloff were battling for sixth place. Disaster was looming for BMW: Petrucci, in 15th, was 15 seconds off the pace, whilst Oliveira was last, three seconds behind him.

The gap between Bulega and Lecuona had widened to 4 seconds by the halfway point of the race. In third place, Montella had held off Surra and Lowes. The rider in last place crashed on lap 11. In the broad midfield, Bridewell held on to 7th place against Xavi Vierge and the increasingly strong Álvaro Bautista (Ducati). Dixon had crashed in Turn 13.

When Bridewell crashed with two laps to go, the race was stopped – apparently an air fence had been damaged once again. Stefano Manzi (Yamaha) had crashed earlier. Up to that point, there had been little change in the leading positions during the second half of the race. Only Lorenzo Baldassarri fought his way past Surra to take fourth place. With Bulega, Lecuona and Montella, the podium was identical to that of the sprint race. Baldassarri and Surra completed the Ducati triumph in the top five.

In the midfield, Bautista came out on top. The two-time Superbike World Champion posted lap times on a par with the leaders in the closing stages and crossed the finish line in sixth place. Gerloff, Vierge, Axel Bassani (Bimota) and Gardner rounded off the top 10.

BMW rider Danilo Petrucci took the chequered flag 32 seconds behind. His team-mate Miguel Oliveira dropped to 15th place, behind Honda rider Somkiat Chantra (14th), due to a three-second time penalty.

With a total of five retirements, only 15 riders were classified.