Toprak Razgatlioglu completed a dominant WorldSBK weekend at Magny-Cours by sealing a fourth successive treble in Race 2.
The reigning World Champion made it 12 race victories in a row after a commanding performance saw him run out as the race victor by over eight seconds from title rival Nicolo Bulega.
Razgatlioglu once again made the better start of the riders on the front row and comfortably took the lead into the first corner over Bulega.
Alex Lowes also secured a fast start from third on the grid and attempted a pass on Bulega, but the Ducati rider closed the door on the Bimota.
Jonathan Rea showed progress from his difficult start to the weekend, moving into fourth on the start ahead of Michael van der Mark and Danilo Petrucci.
Petrucci also started the race quickly and was able to thread through the three riders ahead, as he moved from sixth to third in one corner.
Lowes responded immediately to the Barni Spark racer as the British rider returned to the podium positions as a frenetic opening lap came to a close.
In contrast to his brother’s strong start, Sam Lowes was forced to retire while running in ninth due to a technical problem to bring an end to a difficult weekend for the British rider.
The positions at the front of the race stabilised for five laps until Alex Lowes made an error, allowing Petrucci and Rea to slide through into third and fourth.
Rea appeared to have the best pace of the three riders in podium contention, and was able to find his way through on Petrucci to move into third place.
Lowes found his way back past the Italian and attempted to close back in on Rea, pulling a move on the Northern Irishman but was unable to make it stick
After three laps of battling, Rea was forced to relinquish the podium position to Lowes after the Bimota rider pulled the pin at Turn 14.
As the pair continued their battle, van der Mark was brought into contention and made a move on Petrucci for fifth position.
The Dutchman had the best pace of the riders in the podium fight and passed Rea into fourth place and hoped to take it to Lowes in third.
While Van der Mark made his moves, Alvaro Bautista took an opportunity to overtake Petrucci and Xavi Vierge and move into the top six.
Though the BMW rider had all the momentum, he ran wide at Turn 13, opening the door for Bautista, which the Spaniard gladly took as he moved into the top four.
With the race stabilising in the final laps, Razgatliolgu completed a fourth successive treble as he crossed the line to take a dominant victory.
Bulega gave everything to challenge the Turkish rider, but finished over eight seconds adrift of Razgatlioglu.
Alex Lowes scored three podiums in a weekend for the first time since 2021 as he secured another third place.
Bautista completed his charge in fourth place ahead of van der Mark, while Jonathan Rea said his farewell to Magny-Cours in sixth.
Vierge held onto his seventh place over Petrucci, who struggled in the late stages of the race and could only manage eighth.
Locatelli stormed from the back of the grid to ninth, while Dominique Aegerter rounded out the top 10.
Garrett Gerloff also had to charge from the back of the field and ended his race in 11th, with Axel Bassani ensuring a double points finish for Bimota in 12th.
Remy Gardner’s weekend ended with a 13th-placed finish over Britain’s Tarran Mackenzie, while Sergio Garcia completed his stand-in duties as the final points finisher in 15th.
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