It was almost nothing for Jonathan Rea to definitively end the WSBK season during this rainy weekend at Magny-Cours. But Scott Redding, in a last burst, decided to delay the deadline. Mathematically, the official Kawasaki is only three points short of winning its sixth consecutive title. However, his counterpart at Ducati will not give them to him willingly. See you in 15 days on an Estoril route which will be a discovery for everyone...
Scott Redding made sure to Magny-Cours to keep the championship WSBK still alive, before his last appointment on the calendar. It will be at Estoril, in two weeks, an unknown track in the category. The official Ducati did the job by removing the last race of the Nivernais weekend, and his work was embellished by Loris Baz then his teammate Chaz Davies who quit Jonathan Rhea of a podium which would have allowed him to win his sixth crown.
The Northern Irishman takes this setback philosophically: “ I just need to get three points. We are in a good position », comments Rea who adds: “ I love Magny-Cours, but it’s nice to celebrate elsewhere ". The decision on the championship will still be made during the final in Portugal.
« We have to get it right first » recalls the teammatealex lowes in order to keep his troops mobilized. “ But it gives me a lot of courage to approach the next meeting with such a head start, especially after zero at the start of the season at Phillip Island. We worked hard and won a lot of races. And if we couldn't win, then we were close. Now the title is getting closer and I can think about it. It's really cool ", states Sale.
“Everything is possible in the last races of the season”
At the moment, it's hard to say who will be strong in the season finale. Estoril is new to the WSBK calendar. “ I can't wait to get to know Estoril. The layout looks very good. This should suit me and the Kawasaki well », nevertheless predicts Sale.
For his part, the one who still has a tiny chance of reversing the situation analyzes: “ Jonathan has been riding the same bike for five years. We need to make the most of the weekends to gather as much information as possible ". In the championship, Redding a 59 points behind before the last weekend.
With a maximum of 62 points to score, the title is theoretically possible, but if Scott Redding wins in the first race, a 13th place would be enough to secure the championship. “ The gap is big, but anything is possible in the last races of the season ", said Redding ready for a tough fight...
WSBK Championship Ranking :
| 1 | Jonathan Rhea | Kawasaki | 327 | |
| 2 | Scott Redding | Ducati | 256 | -71 |
| 3 | Chaz Davies | Ducati | 206 | -121 |
| 4 | Michael Van Der Mark | Yamaha | 192 | -135 |
| 5 | alex lowes | Kawasaki | 170 | -157 |
| 6 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Yamaha | 168 | -159 |
| 7 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | Ducati | 156 | -171 |
| 8 | Loris Baz | Yamaha | 115 | -212 |
| 9 | Alvaro Bautista | Honda | 98 | -229 |
| 10 | Leon Haslam | Honda | 88 | -239 |
| 11 | Garrett gerloff | Yamaha | 70 | -257 |
| 12 | Tom Sykes | BMW | 70 | -257 |
| 13 | Federico Caricasulo | Yamaha | 46 | -281 |
| 14 | Eugene Laverty | BMW | 45 | -282 |
| 15 | Xavi Fores | Kawasaki | 45 | -282 |
| 16 | Marco Melandri | Ducati | 23 | -304 |
| 17 | Leander Market | Ducati | 18 | -309 |
| 18 | Sandra Cortese | Kawasaki | 14 | -313 |
| 19 | Maximilian Scheib | Kawasaki | 11 | -316 |
| 20 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha | 9 | -318 |
| 21 | Sylvain Barrier | Ducati | 8 | -319 |
| 22 | Matteo Ferrari | Ducati | 4 | -323 |
| 23 | Christophe Ponsson | Aprilia | 4 | -323 |
| 24 | Takumi Takahashi | Honda | 4 | -323 |
| 25 | Roman ramos | Kawasaki | 4 | -323 |
| 26 | Lorenzo Zanetti | Ducati | 3 | -324 |
