The Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France today hosted day two of action making up the seventh Superbike World Championship round. For Lucas Mahias, who is riding with a special bike livery dedicated to GiVi, a historic Kawasaki Puccetti Racing sponsor, this is a home round, which means he can count on the support of his fans.
Yesterday, during a day complicated by rain, Lucas completed the first two free practice sessions in twenty-first place with a time of 1’52”587. This morning, on an almost completely dry track, he took part in the third and final practice and, with a strong time of 1’37”931, he climbed to twelfth in the combined standings.
The Superpole ran in the late morning, serving to establish grid positions for the afternoon’s race. With a fastest time of 1’36”678, Mahias qualified eleventh, earning a place on the fourth of the grid for the weekend’s first two races, the first of which got underway this afternoon and ran over a distance of 21 laps.
After making a good start, the French rider was lying in around tenth place early on. Unfortunately, after coming into violent contact with another rider, Lucas lost his right knee slider on lap three which naturally limited his riding. Mahias was nevertheless able to maintain a good pace to cross the line twelfth. A solid result but the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider could well have done more without the slider problem.
Tomorrow, the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider will compete in the Superpole Race, followed by the second and final 21-lap Superbike race of the weekend.
Nevers Magny Cours Circuit – France – Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Redding (BMW) – 3) Baz (BMW) – 4) Bautista (Ducati) – 5) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 6) Rea (Kawasaki) ……. 12) Mahias (Kawasaki).
Superpole: 1) Rea (Kawasaki) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Redding (BMW) – 4) Bautista (Ducati) – 5) Gerloff (Yamaha) – 6) Lowes (Kawasaki) ……11) Mahias (Kawasaki)
Race 1: 1) Bautista (Ducati) – 2) Redding (BMW) – 3) Bassani (Ducati) – 4) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 5) Gerloff (Yamaha) – 6) Rinaldi (Ducati) ……. 10) Mahias (Kawasaki)
Lucas Mahias
“I’m not happy with today’s result. The race became difficult after I lost my right knee slider, having come into contact with a Honda rider. Without any reference for the contact between my knee and the asphalt, it wasn’t easy to maintain my pace and hold tenth, but in the end I brought home a good result. I’m optimistic for tomorrow because we have good potential and without this problem today, I could have achieved a better result. I want to thank my team for providing me with a competitive bike.”
