WorldSBK Magny-Cours Superpole | Relentless Rea extends Superpole streak

Jonathan Rea’s remarkable run of qualifying form during the 2021 WorldSBK Championship showed no signs of abating as he rattled off an eighth pole position from eight attempts at Magny-Cours.

Coming into the French weekend level on points with Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, Rea gave himself the best possible chance to put some distance between himself and his rival by maintaining his spectacular single lap record.

Popping to the top of the timesheets towards the end of the session, Rea was a tenth quicker than Razgatlioglu to ensure he remains the only rider to start from the top spot this season.

Still, he faces close competition from close championship rival Razgatlioglu, who returns to the scene of his maiden WorldSBK wins two years ago looking to have an easier time of it having achieved those successes from 14th on the grid.

Tom Sykes completes the front row, the BMW rider making a strong account of himself as he looks for a new ride next season, while Alex Lowes and Andrea Locatelli replicated the order of their Kawasaki and Yamaha counterparts in fourth and fifth.

Leon Haslam scored his best starting position of the season in sixth aboard the Honda, ahead of Ducati factory pair Michael Ruben RInaldi and Scott Redding, the third of the title contenders giving himself work to do in Race 1 and the Superpole Race.

Michael van der Mark completes row three, ahead of Lucas Mahias - who crashed late on - Chaz Davies and Garrett Gerloff on the privateer Go Eleven Ducati and GRT Yamaha.