Supersport at Magny-Cours: Lucas Mahias takes back the lead of the World Championship

After a difficult and worrying start to the race due to contact with the machine in front of him, Lucas Mahias managed to move up ten places to finally finish in fourth position. He preceded Sofuoglu in the Championship by 9 points with two races remaining in the season (Jerez and Doha). The Finn Niki Tuuli won his first World Supersport victory in great style for the Kallio Racing team.

The 2017 Supersport World Championship was somewhat decided on Saturday afternoon in Nièvre when Lucas Mahias broke his engine at the start of Superpole 2, which condemned him to starting twelfth. But shortly after, Championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu fell and fractured his pelvis in three places. He was of course forfeited and could logically say goodbye to the title.

Lucas Mahias then firmly occupied virtual first place in the provisional general classification. On the starting grid, Gino Rea experienced a technical problem which forced him to start after everyone else. Sheridan Morais took the lead ahead of his Team Kallio teammate Niki Tuuli. Federico Caricasulo was third ahead of Jules Cluzel.

Lucas Mahias came into contact with the bike in front of him and found himself nineteenth. He remained calm and moved up to fifteenth, then fourteenth position. But he was not far from the catastrophe.

Morais led from Tuuli, Caricasulo, Cluzel, Jacobsen and Bergman. Mahias moved up to twelfth, so he now occupied second place in the provisional Championship standings, 1 point behind Sofuoglu. In the lead, the Yamaha dominated with Morais ahead of Tuuli and Caricasulo. Cluzel was only 0.7 behind this group of three with 16 laps remaining, ahead of American PJ Jacobsen and his MV Agusta.

Caricasulo took the lead ahead of Tuuli, Morais, Jacobsen and Cluzel, while Mahias continued his climb to eighth position. On this occasion, Lucas achieved the best lap in the race.

At mid-race, Niki Tuuli took command ahead of Caricasulo, Jacobsen, Cluzel, Morais, Canducci and Mahias, now seventh.

8 laps from the checkered flag, Tuuli, Caricasulo and Jacobsen were fighting for first place, while 4 seconds further Cluzel tried to resist Mahias and Morais. Mahias then had a 7-point lead over Sofuoglu.

With 6 laps remaining, Mahias passed Cluzel, then Jules passed Lucas again. Mahias overtook Cluzel and secured fourth position, then 3.5 behind Jacobsen in third.

Tuuli and Caricasulo continued to fight for victory, while Jacobsen was a solitary third. Mahias had an advantage of 1.5 with 5 laps remaining over the fifth Morais who had just overtaken Cluzel.

Tuuli finally won ahead of Caricasulo, Jacobsen, Mahias and Cluzel.

Ranking of the Magny-Cours race:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

LUCAS MAHIAS 154 YAMAHA

KENAN SOFUOGLU 145 KAWASAKI

SHERIDAN MORAIS 122 YAMAHA

JULES CLUZEL 115 HONDA

PJ JACOBSEN 95 MV AGUSTA

FEDERICO CARICASULO 80 YAMAHA

NIKI TUULI 63 YAMAHA

KYLE SMITH 51 HONDA

LUKE STAPLEFORD 47 TRIUMPH

ANTHONY WEST 46

Photo © Yamaha