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3 Říjen 2020

Mahias Takes Another Strong Second

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Lucas Mahias scored a race one second place at his home round in France, battling wet weather conditions throughout in a contest that was red flagged one lap early. Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 14th after experiencing problems with a fogging visor.

After one of the previous races at the Barcelona round had been red flagged due to wet weather, a crashed bike on the racing line finally brought the first Magny Cours WorldSSP race of the weekend to a halt, with the results called from lap 17, not the planned lap 18.

For the fourth race in succession Mahias was second, although he felt he could have had an even better result but for an unexpected lack of grip from the rear during the race.

Lucas persevered and regained momentum towards the end but his ambitions of winning were finally dashed when the red flags came out. He was just 1.427 seconds from race winner Andrea Locatelli. In Superpole Mahias was a strong second in tricky damp conditions, and replicated that result in the race.

A difficult race for Lucas’ team-mate, and first time Magny Cours rider Phillip Öttl, saw him fight his way to 18th in Superpole qualifying and then 14th in the race, as he struggled with a lack of clear vision at times. He had been up to eighth place until his problem caused him to drop back. He still scored two championship points today.

At the penultimate round of the season, one more Magny Cours WorldSSP race remains on Sunday.

Lucas Mahias, stated: “I am happy for the result, to finish in second position, but for sure I am not happy overall because the conditions were maybe good for me to think about winning the race. From the first lap the feel from the bike was not the same as it had been all weekend. The grip on the rear was not so good, especially on the entry to the corners, but I do not know why. I thought I may not finish the race at the beginning, and I had a lot of opportunities to crash, losing the rear a few times. But after that, with the temperature coming a little better, I pushed to come back. I lost five tenths to a rear slide and then the red flag came out. It was OK, and I have one more chance to win tomorrow. I am ready.”

Philipp Öttl, stated: “The beginning of the race was good, until the last third, but then I had big problems with my visor and I could not see anything anymore, so I dropped back to 14th. I had a good feeling early in the race and there was a lot more water than in the practice sessions. At one point I was eighth but when you cannot see it is not so easy. I have to do my best again tomorrow and we will see how it goes.”

Can Öncü (Turkish Puccetti Racing) had the best result of his rookie season and finished sixth, with early strong runner Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) also scoring well at the end of the red-flagged race, in seventh place.

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