Round of France 2024, Race 2: Bulega wins alone | FP

A few hours after the success in the Superpole Race, Nicholas Bulega he even granted himself an encore on the occasion of an anomalous event Race 2 of Magny-Courswithout the presence on the track of big names such as Alvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea and the leader of the championship Toprak Razgatlioglu, all declared ‘unfit’. The Venetian Ducati rider knew no rivals in the last chapter of the French round, finishing on the top step of the podium ahead of Danilo Petrucci and to the American Garrett Gerloffwho ends a fast from the top-3 in Superbike that had lasted since 2022.

Race report

A race without rivals for Bulega, author of an impeccable start ahead of Alex Lowes and Danilo Petrucci. Already during the first lap, the Umbrian rider of the Barni team obtained the second position following a technical problem most likely related to the gearbox that occurred to the Kawasaki Lowes, who immediately restarted the race but from the back. The episode favored the climb to the podium area of ​​Vierge, with the Spaniard who then lost the top-3 after three laps first in favor of Van der Mark and the other Kawasaki of Axel Bassanifor a virtual Italian hat-trick. The scenario of an all-Italian podium however vanished on the eighth lap not only because Van der Mark overtook the 25-year-old from Feltre, but also and above all because long-lap penalty inflicted on the latter, guilty of having cut the curve without giving up the second required by the rules. Once the penalty was served, Bassani thus ‘gifted’ fourth position to Gerloff, who immediately entered into a fight with Van der Mark’s BMW for third position. A challenge between riders of the Bavarian manufacturer that rewarded the Texan rider: while Bulega won his third Superbike race alone ahead of Petrucci, closing the gap to 55 points from Razgatliogluthe American has savoured the joy of the podium that has been missing since Montmelò 2022. Finally, it is worth highlighting the presence of all the Italian riders in the points zone, with Superbike returning to the track in two weeks (from 20 to 22 September) right in Italy, for the absolute debut in this category of the circuit of Cremona.

Magny-Cours 2024, Race 2: Finishing Order