Magny Cours is a regularly used WorldSBK championship venue and this year all the qualifying and race action took place on dry and increasingly warm conditions - but only after a deluge of rain on Thursday, just as the teams were making final preparations for the fifth round of the eight-round season.

With the previous WorldSSP300 round having taken place at Misano in Italy, way back in the middle of June, the riders and teams were simply desperate to get back into competitive mode for what was the start of a four-round championship run-in to the final in Spain, in October.

After several strong Kawasaki performances over each 11-lap race at the classic 4.411km-long circuit located in the absolute centre of mainland France, the World Championship fight expanded to include a realistic five prospective champions - three of whom are riding Kawasaki Ninja 400 machinery.

In Superpole Qualifying, held on Friday afternoon, ‘comeback kid’ Loris Veneman (still only 18 years of age) secured the top starting spot in his return to the MTM Kawasaki squad in WorldSSP300. He had commenced the 2025 season racing in WorldSSP.

He was joined on the front row of the Race One grid by two other Kawasaki riders - Salvador in second place and Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) in third.

Veneman’s pace was incredibly fast in qualifying, not only going more than 0.4 seconds quicker than second-placed Salvador but almost a whole second faster than the previous track best laptime.

Race One was almost as successful a campaign for the top three Ninja 400 riders as Superpole had been. Veneman would take the win, after an almost race-long fight with second-place rider Matteo Vannucci (Yamaha) and a true race-long fight with his new team-mate, Thompson.

Thompson lost his own strong chance of the race victory when he overcooked the entry to the final Lycee section, as he tried to pass both Veneman and Vannucci in one final swoop.

Veneman’s comeback ride in WorldSSP300 would prove successful at the first time of asking, after he pulled off an audacious inside pass on Vannucci into the legendary final chicane. He won by just 0.053 seconds, with a recovered Thompson 0.628 seconds behind.

The opening race was held in warm and sunny conditions, allowing the formation of a large leading group, which is very typical of this category of racing. The mix of generally young riders on evenly-matched machines has long delivered incredibly close action, but by the end of the 11-lap race, there was a clear ‘big three’ out front.

Race One’s podium trio would lead home even the best of the rest of the 34-strong field by well over five seconds.

After the two MTM riders took their podium places, the next closest Ninja 400 rider across the finish line was Salvador, in sixth place. He had to take a long lap penalty in Race One, after being adjudged to have been too slow in too many sectors during qualifying.

Three more Kawasaki riders followed him in a closely bunched formation, with recent MTM Kawasaki rider Mirko Gennai (Prodina Kawasaki Racing Sport) seventh, Jose Manuel Osuna Saez (ZAPPAS Deza - Box77 Racing Kawasaki) eighth, and Daniel Mogeda (Pons Motorsport Italika Racing Kawasaki) ninth.

There were six Ninja 400 riders inside the top nine places in the opening race.

The last championship point on offer went to Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI Kawasaki) for his 15th place finish. Fully half of the Race One field - 17 from 34 riders in all - were mounted on Kawasaki Ninja 400 machines.

The second race, held over 11 laps again, was started under a warm midday sun, with ambient temperatures six degrees higher than Race One.

Veneman took an early advantage alongside KTM rider Jeffrey Buis, but they were soon caught by the chasing pack, which included Thompson, Salvador, Gennai, and Mogeda.

Thompson took a clear lead - by the standards of this most combative and competitive class of racing - on lap six, but he was swamped by other riders under braking for the almost walking pace Adelaide hairpin. He pushed on again to lead by 0.4 seconds one lap later, with Veneman in third place, just behind points leader Benat Fernandez.

Veneman took his turn to lead again on lap seven, by which time the leading group consisted of nine riders, all covered by less than a second.

Veneman dropped to seventh with three laps to go, as Thompson once again tried to make a breakaway - with only some degree of temporary success.

The last two laps were thrilling in the extreme, with a yellow flag situation also arriving at one stage. It seemed the only thing that could possibly hold back the constant passing and re-passing inside the battle of wills and wits being played out at full pace by the final top eight riders.

On the last lap the Lycee complex was the scene of another moment of high drama, as Veneman and Buis collided after Buis had lost the front under braking. Luca recovered to finish 14th and score two championship points. Buis suffered a concussion after a following rider unavoidably collided with him, but was conscious as he was taken away by the marshals and was later declared clear to travel after medical checks.

Up front Salvador had worked himself into the perfect position and won the race, by 0.243 seconds from Vannucci and 0.805 seconds from Thompson. This was Salvador’s second career WorldSSP300 race win and it puts him firmly in championship contention with three rounds and six races still to run.

With two Kawasaki riders on the Race Two podium, Mogeda was a strong fourth, just over a second from the winning race time of Salvador.

Gennai was seventh in Race Two, with Osuna Saez ninth and Roberto Saez (Kawasaki Junior Team by MTM) completing the top ten.

In the championship points, after Salvador’s two strong performances at Magny Cours he is just 11 points behind leader Benat Fernandez. Julio Garcia (Prodina Kawasaki Racing Sport), who missed this round through injury, is third, some 17 points from the lead. Thompson is now fifth and 25 points - the equivalent of one full race win - from the lead.

In terms of points, Fernandez has 150 in all, Salvador 139, Garcia 133, with Buis and Carter tied on 125 each. With three rounds and six individual races to go, the title fight is still very much on.

In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Kawasaki leads Yamaha by 57 points after Magny Cours, 209 points to 152.

Team Prodina XCI Kawasaki leads the teams’ Championship, by 54 points from Team Freudenberg KTM-Paligo. MTM Kawasaki is a very close third, just one point behind the KTM team. ProDina Kawasaki Racing Sport is fourth.

The next round, the sixth of eight in total, will take place at the long and very fast Motorland Aragon, between 26-28 September.

Rider Comments

Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “The first race went great from start to finish. The pace wasn’t too high, also because of the wind, but in general it was manageable for me. It allowed me to manage myself and the tyres to get ready for a last lap attack. In the end, into the chicane, it worked perfectly. On the final lap I overtook Carter on the back straight; the slipstream was so strong because there was a headwind. You can make up a lot of ground if you are behind somebody. Matteo made a mistake in T8 and that allowed me to close up on the straight on him going into the next chicane. I knew that going downhill for the last part of the track they would try to overtake me. So I braked a little bit earlier, so that I could focus on the exit as much as possible. Matteo was a little bit in front of me and I thought, ‘I will just do it’ and see what happens. In the end it worked out, and I cannot be happier than this with Race One.”

Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “I had a good race on Saturday and I felt quite comfortable from the start. I didn’t get the best jump off the line but tried to get as close to the front as I could and stay consistent. I felt like I had good pace. I struggled a bit with the bike at the end of the race, so we will probably work on some changes. I felt like I could do it but I made a mistake on the final part of the lap and that definitely stopped the challenge for the win. I felt I had a good pace so maybe I could have been a bit more aggressive. But, overall, it was a good race. On Sunday I was really happy with the result. I felt good all weekend and I quite enjoyed this track in my first time racing here. So, yes, it was a good weekend.”

David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI), stated: “It was a bit of a complicated race. We probably made a change this morning that didn't work well for the track conditions. I expected the group in front to stay more compact, so that after the long lap I could rejoin better. Instead, it was very difficult; the pace was fast, and I struggled. In the end, it wasn't bad to finish sixth, considering that after the long lap I was eighteenth and quite far behind. I recovered well, but I think with yesterday's bike and the correct setup, everything would have been easier. On the last lap, I made a small mistake while attempting to overtake and finished sixth. It's not a bad result; the real mistake was on Saturday, for which I was penalised with a long lap. I am very happy for the Race Two victory because this morning I had a technical problem but I pushed a lot all the time in this race. In the last lap I tried to brake very hard so I overtook Veneman and then tried to close the door. Finally I won so I am super-happy for me, my team and all my family. This win is very important for me.”

Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI Kawasaki), stated: “We've finished this French weekend, which wasn't easy to be honest, because the circuit proved to be quite difficult for me. It wasn't my best weekend, but we're learning and gaining the experience we need to best tackle the season. Now we'll work to understand and correct the mistakes we made.”

Mirko Gennai (Prodina Kawasaki racing Sport), stated: “I'm really happy to be back fighting in the leading group after a very difficult start to the season. I feel great with the team; we've done a great job, and I want to thank them for that. Let's look on the bright side of Race Two: we finished the weekend feeling good with the team and with an excellent job done together, so I want to thank them. I got along very well with the team, and we worked in perfect harmony. It's a shame about race two. I started from second place, confident and convinced I could do well, but at the end of the long straight, to avoid contact with other riders, I was forced to go off the racing line and lost about ten to fifteen positions, finding myself at the back of the pack. I tried to recover as much as possible and pushed until the last lap, finishing in seventh place. Ultimately, the positive side remains: the great work done together with the team this weekend.”

#NinjaSpirit