Toprak Razgatlioglu produced a dominant performance in Race 1 as he became the rider with the most WorldSBK victories at Magny-Cours.
The reigning World Champion earned his ninth win at the French circuit as he dominated in a lights-to-flag victory in the first race of the weekend.
Polesitter Razgatlioglu made the best start of the riders on the front row and was able to maintain his lead going into the first corner.
Alex Lowes also made a stunning start from fourth on the grid and forced overtakes on his brother Sam Lowes and Nicolo Bulega to move into second.
Bulega elected for the wide line at Turn 6 in his attempted response to Alex Lowes, but lost momentum on the corner exit and lost a further position to Sam Lowes.
Behind the leaders, chaos ensued as a multiple rider crash involving Andrea Iannone, Yari Montella and Jonathan Rea saw the trio exit the race at Turn 12.
On the exit of Turn 13, Alvaro Bautista and Xavi Vierge suffered synchronised crashes at Turn 13, which forced both riders to return to the pit lane at the end of the first lap.
Moving onto Lap 2, Bulega regained his position from the Marc VDS rider, giving the Italian free rein to chase down the second Lowes brother and Razgatlioglu in the lead.
Bulega wasted no time getting onto the back of the Bimota rider and passed Lowes at the first opportunity to return to second place.
However, the Italian appeared to struggle for pace after passing the Lowes brothers, which allowed Razgatlioglu to extend his advantage at the front to 2.848s.
While El Turco was continuing to lead out front, his BMW team-mate Michael van der Mark suffered two crashes in quick succession to end a miserable Race 1 for the Dutchman.
Garrett Gerloff charged through the field after a Turn 3 crash in qualifying left him last on the grid, but his Race 1 suffered a similar fate as he crashed at the same corner with four laps remaining.
A late crash for Sam Lowes saw the British rider drop out of fourth position, but the Marc VDS rider was still able to rejoin inside the top 10.
As the gaps between the field continued to grow, Razgatlioglu confirmed his dominance of the race as he crossed the line to take victory by 8.597s.
Bulega seemed to suffer from visor issues after passing the Lowes twins and was forced to settle for a distant second behind his title rival.
Alex Lowes scored the first full-race podium for Bimota since 2000 as he completed the rostrum in third.
Danilo Petrucci earned fourth place over the line, while Andrea Locatelli gained 16 places as he finished inside the top five.
Axel Bassani was sandwiched between the GYTR GRT Yamaha riders in seventh, as Remy Gardner took sixth and Dominique Aegerter came home in eighth.
Sam Lowes scored a ninth-place finish despite his late crash, while Bahattin Sofuoglu completed the top 10.
Sergio Garcia scored points in 11th as a replacement rider for the injured Iker Lecuona, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi came home in 12th
Ryan Vickers crossed the line in 13th for the Motocorsa outfit despite receiving a long lap penalty for a shortcut at Turn 6, while Tito Rabat was 14th.
Zaqhwan Zaidi concluded the Race 1 points finishers in 15th.
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