The France round of the WSBK on the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
The current weather report indicates a damp Friday, after which it should stay dry on the weekend. First and foremost, this should reassure the Yamaha hope from Turkey. Last year, Ratzgatlioglu was one of the drivers who had little to do in the rain. Except for Barcelona, where he did not start at all on Sunday in 2020 due to a crash in the warm-up last year, the France round was his weakest last season. For Jonathan Rea, on the other hand, it makes absolutely no difference whether the first weekend in September 2021 is driven on a dry or wet track. The Northern Irishman is automatically the top favourite when it rains and in this regard Toprak has been incredibly lucky this year when, contrary to the predictions, it was barely more than damp in Donington Park, for example. The next 4 rounds in the Superbike World Championship will be decisive in terms of the title fight, and the weather could tip the scales.
The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
With 9 right and 8 left bends, the course, located on the western edge of Burgundy, offers a challenging course on which beginners often have a hard time at the beginning. The 4.411 km route is clockwise. The start-finish straight is only 250 meters long and the layout of the circuit is rather idiosyncratic, but definitely interesting. The track is between 10.4 and 18 meters wide. There are no long straights here, and it is not easy for newbies to learn. In addition, Magny-Cours is pretty up and down, and the area and the course are always worth a trip for the spectators.
The record of the current riders – Rea, as usual, the outstanding man in Nevers
At the France round at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Johnny Rea is the man to beat, and only Chaz Davies and Alex Lowes managed to do this in the last 6 laps of France. At least in terms of overall victory, while Razgatlioglu has already been victorious here in individual races. For the Kawasaki rider, however, it was always about the title fight, and it was not uncommon for him to win it in Nevers. He and his team were able to celebrate their title defence in France three times in the last four years. The last time was 2019, and we happened to be in the same restaurant where he and his team had held the celebration. We were even able to convince ourselves that his crew chief Pere Riba can sing and dance well. Scott Redding was second best behind the reigning world champion last year. The Englishman was already approaching Toprak threateningly in the last few rounds, which should mean another three-way battle for the France round when it comes to victory and the World Cup.
The World Championship stand before the round in Nevers
Stand in the WorldSSP 600 world championships
The schedule for the France round in Nevers
This time all three classes are there again, while the junior category had a break in Navarra. There will only be a date collision in the lap afterwards with MotoGP, which will compete in Misano, while WorldSBK will be visiting Barcelona for the second time in mid-September. From now on we will only concentrate on the near-series World Championship and will only report on the Prototype World Championship sporadically. We are convinced that sport is even more in the foreground in WorldSBK and the closeness to the audience is much greater here. On the other hand, MotoGP developed more and more into an ice-cold business with protagonists, whose statements can usually be copied at will without recognizing the speaker. Types like Tom Sykes or earlier Colin Edwards and from the end of this season of course Valentino Rossi hardly exist in the so-called premier class. But at least the Spanish dominance of the last few years has taken a bad toll there, which of course means that MotoGP can still maintain its appeal and is completely undisputed.
Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).
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