Jonathan Rea extended his WorldSBK winning streak on Sunday at Magny Cours, taking his eighth consecutive victory and fourth double in a row. The Ulsterman claimed a comfortable win from ninth on the grid ahead of Chaz Davies, earning him another all-time record with the most podium finishes in World Superbike Championship history.
Sporting a special gold fairing in celebration of his fourth world title, Rea was intent on demonstrating his championship credentials and produced another ruthless display of overtaking, climbing from ninth to fourth by the time the field reached the Adelaide hairpin for the first time. Only Davies, Michael van der Mark and Marco Melandri were ahead of him and it initially, it seemed as though the squabbling over second was allowing Davies to escape.
Once the world champion had finally overhauled van der Mark on lap three, a one second gap had opened up but Rea’s race pace saw him move straight onto the tail of the Aruba.it Ducati in two laps, eventually easing the Welshman aside into the 180° corner on lap 12. From there, victory was never in doubt with Chaz lacking the pace, or the fitness, to launch a counter attack.
Van der Mark followed home in third for his tenth podium of the season while Tom Sykes chased down Melandri to snatch fourth on the penultimate lap. Lorenzo Savadori capped off his best weekend of the year with sixth ahead of Alex Lowes and Xavi Fores while Leon Camier salvaged ninth for Red Bull Honda ahead of home favourite Loris Baz.
WorldSBK 2018: Acerbis French Round: Race Two
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