Friday

Mahias gets to work at Magny Cours as he prepares for his home races

The eighth round of the Superbike World Championship has got underway at the Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France with the first free practice sessions.
As in previous years, the French round provides Manuel Puccetti’s team with an opportunity to dedicate the livery of their Superbike to GiVi, the Italian company an historic Kawasaki Puccetti Racing supporter.
At the end of the first session, the track was still wet after overnight rain but it gradually dried out during the practice. Having waited until the track was almost dry, the entire WorldSBK field headed out onto the track, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Lucas Mahias included. This is the French rider’s home round, one more reason for him to give it his all and achieve the best possible results. In the few minutes available to him, Mahias set a time of 1’40”443 to close in eleventh place.
The second practice played out in the afternoon on a totally dry track. Mahias was able to improve on his morning’s best and rounded out the day in fourteenth place with a time of 1’38”368. Rather than focusing on lap times, the Frenchman and his technical staff concentrated on finding the right set-up for their ZX-10RR.
Tomorrow will see Lucas compete in the Superpole following by the first of the weekend’s races in the early afternoon.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Redding (Ducati) – 3) Rea (Kawasaki) – 4) Davies (Ducati) – 5) Haslam (Honda) ……….14) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Lucas Mahias

“The day’s been shorter than usual as we were only able to ride for a few minutes this morning due to the wet track. This afternoon we tried various set-up solutions, and although we’re not quite there yet, we know which direction to work in. The most positive thing is that I feel very comfortable on the bike and so I can really try to exploit the full potential of my Ninja”.

Oettl and Oncu seek the ideal set-up at Magny Cours WorldSSP

This morning’s first free practice marked the start of the seventh Supersport World Championship round at the Nevers Magny Cours in France. On a dry track, the two Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders, Turk Can Oncu and German Philipp Oettl stopped the clock on 1’42”029 and 1’41”726 respectively, closing the opening session in ninth and fifth place.
In the second free practice which played out in the afternoon, Oncu was able to improve on his earlier lap time (1’41”836) to finish eighth. Oettl was unable to better his FP1 reference (1’42”015) and therefore rounded out the day in seventh place overall, immediately in front of his team-mate.
Tomorrow the duo will take part in the Superpole session followed by the first race making up this WorldSSP round.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Supersport World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Caricasulo (Yamaha) – 3) Verdoia (Yamaha) – 4) Cluzel (Yamaha) – 5) Debise (Yamaha) – 6) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 7) Oettl (Kawasaki) – 8) Oncu (Kawasaki)

Can Oncu

“We’ve started a lot better than we did during the previous Navarra round. I was immediately able to be fast, without the reference of another rider. I set my best time alone. I like this track, also because there is a lot of hard braking and so it suits my riding style. We’ll try to score a good result in Superpole, and I feel confident ahead of the race, I think we can aim for the podium.”

Philipp Oettl

“It’s been a positive day although I wasn’t able to improve my lap time in the second session. We focused more on the set-up of the bike and the tyre wear, rather than paying too much attention to lap times. I feel quite confident ahead of tomorrow, but it will be important to score a good result in Superpole in order to start up near the front of the grid.”

Saturday

Mahias crashes in Superpole is declared unfit

There were sunny skies and a dry track at the Nevers Magny-Cours track in France today as the eighth WorldSBK round continued to play out. Competing in his home round, Lucas Mahias’ Ninja features a special livery dedicated to sponsor GiVi this weekend. The French rider is also using a helmet that will go up for auction on eBay on Monday, the proceeds going to the Mont de Marsan paediatric association.
Lucas finished fourteenth in yesterday’s two free practice sessions with a fastest time of 1’38”368. This morning he was back on track for the third and final practice, a session that he finished sixteenth with a best of 1’38”375, very similar to Friday’s performance.
The eighth Superpole of the season got underway in the late morning. After making a few laps on race rubber, Mahias then started to push with the qualifying tyre to set the best possible lap time and score a solid grid position. Unfortunately, a few minutes from the end of the session he fell victim to a high-speed crash. Lucas was able to get back up and was taken to the circuit’s Medical Centre, where he was declared unfit. He was therefore unable to take part in this afternoon’s first race.
Having apparently sustained no fractures, Mahias’ condition will be further assessed this afternoon, and tomorrow morning he will visit the Medical Centre before warm-up to understand how he is and whether or not he can compete in the weekend’s final races.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Superbike World Championship

Combined free practice results: 1) Redding (Ducati) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Gerloff (Yamaha) – 4) Rea (Kawasaki) – 5) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 6) Locatelli (Yamaha) ……… 16) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Superpole: 1) Rea (Kawasaki) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Sykes (BMW) – 4) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 5) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 6) Haslam (Honda ……….. 10) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Oettl and Oncu seventh and eighth in race 1 at Magny Cours

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing have completed the qualifying and first race making up this seventh WorldSSP round at the Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France.
In yesterday’s free practices, Philipp Oettl (1’41”726) and Can Oncu (1’41”836) finished the sessions in seventh and eighth place respectively. This morning, in sunny conditions and on a dry track, they took part in the seventh Superpole of the season, but it wasn’t a lucky phase for the two Kawasaki riders. While the German crashed in the final stages, concluding ninth with a time of 1’41”012, the Turk pushed to the max but was unable to do more than eleventh, with a best of 1’41”212.
With these results, Oettl lined up on row three and Oncu from row four of the grid for the thirteenth WorldSSP race which ran in the afternoon. Just after the start, an incident involving two riders saw race direction bring out the red flag, which led to a restarted race, shortened to just 12 laps.
When the lights went out, Oettl got away well and moved into fifth place, while Oncu was ninth. Over the subsequent laps, the two riders battled as part of the chasing group, oscillating between sixth and ninth place. The fight continued right until the final laps, Oettl ultimately crossed the line seventh, immediately ahead of Oncu, eighth.
In the championship standings Oettl holds third place with 165 points, while Oncu is ninth with 74. Tomorrow the two Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders will take part in the second and final race of this WorldSSP round.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Supersport World Championship
Superpole: 1) Bernardi (Yamaha) – 2) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 3) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 4) Debise (Yamaha) – 5) Gonzales (Yamaha) … 9) Oettl (Kawasaki) … 11) Oncu (Kawasaki)

Race 13: 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Odendaal (Yamaha) – 3) Cluzel (Yamaha) – 4) Gonzales (Yamaha) – 5) Bernardi (Yamaha) – 6) Caricasulo (Yamaha) – 7) Oettl (Kawasaki) – 8) Oncu (Kawasaki)

Can Oncu

“In eighth place, only five seconds from the first rider, is actually a good result but not as good as I expected this weekend. Tomorrow we have the second race so we need to focus on that and we need to try to do something different, pass more riders earlier in the race and then focus for the next laps. Today our mistake was that we slept a little bit in the first lap and I will not make this mistake tomorrow. Hopefully we will be much closer to the front.”

Philipp Oettl

“Today was a strange race because we had a red flag at the start. The beginning of the final race was good but then we lost grip with the tyre and we have struggled a lot in this situation for a few races. We still cannot find a good set-up to make the tyre work for long distance. Thats’s our problem; everything else is not so bad. In the end we did the maximum that is possible. If you finish seventh it is difficult for someone to understand that maybe, but we have to accept our situation and keep working with the tyres.”

Sunday

Mahias limited by his physical condition during the day’s races at Magny-Cours

Lucas Mahias has recovered from the accident he suffered in yesterday’s Superpole, the doctors who declared him ‘unfit’ for race 1 giving him the OK to compete in today’s two races.
The French rider’s ZX-10RR, which bears a special GiVi livery this weekend to honour the historic Kawasaki Puccetti Racing sponsor, was practically destroyed in the crash but Manuel Puccetti’s staff worked late into the night to prepare a bike so that Lucas could compete in the eighth Superpole race of the season. Despite the incident, Mahias scored tenth place in Superpole so lined up on the fourth row of the grid for the morning’s 10-lap race, which ran in warm and sunny conditions. Having made a good start, the Frenchman was lying twelfth through the first lap. In the limited time available to him, Lucas struggled to lap at a sufficiently fast pace, finishing his race fourteenth.
The second and final race of the day ran in the afternoon. Having finished the Superpole race fourteenth, Mahias started from the fifth row of the grid. Again able to get away well, the Frenchman tried to maintain a good rhythm but without risking another crash. After fracturing his wrist a few months back and with yesterday’s crash, Lucas is not in the best shape and so focused on finishing the race. He did well to close thirteenth then, scoring a few points for the championship.
Kawasaki Puccetti Racing will now prepare for the next Superbike World Championship round, taking place on 17-19 September at the Barcelona Catalunya circuit in Spain.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Superbike World Championship
Superpole race: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Rea (Kawasaki) – 3) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 4) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 5) Redding (Ducati) – 6) Van der Mark (BMW) …….. 14) Mahias (Kawasaki) Redding

Race 2: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Rea (Kawasaki) – 3) Redding (Ducati) – 4) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 5) Davies (Ducati) – 6) Bautista (Honda) – 7) Rinaldi (Ducati) ……. 13) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Lucas Mahias

“I really struggled physically. After yesterday’s bad crash, the doctors stopped me from competing in race 1, but luckily they gave me permission to race today, though I’m not in the best shape and still in some pain. I was able to complete both of the day’s races and that’s already a good result. I worked hard to find good feeling with my bike and finish in the best possible position. I also did so as a way of thanking my team for all their hard work, which allowed me to be able to get out on track today.”

Oncu scores his first WorldSSP podium, third ahead of Oettl!

The final race making up the seventh Supersport World Championship round took place today at the Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France. Yesterday, the two Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders Philipp Oettl and Can Oncu competed in the Superpole and the weekend’s first race. In Superpole, Oettl scored just ninth place, conditioned also by a crash in the final stages, while Oncu closed eleventh. In race 1, the German crossed the line seventh, in front of his Turkish team-mate, eighth.
Today, in warm and sunny conditions, the pair were back on track for race 2, the fourteenth of this 2021 WorldSSP season. Like yesterday, Oettl lined up on the third row and Oncu from the fourth. The race started in the usual way but was red-flagged after one lap due to an incident at the last chicane. The race was restarted and reduced to 12 laps. Both Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders made a very fast start and by the end of lap one Oncu was up into third, ahead of Oettl. The two team-mates held these positions, right behind the leading pair, until the mid-race point, when they began to battle it out between them for third. The fight continued to the line, with the Turkish rider scoring his first WorldSSP podium. Oettl closed fourth, scoring important championship points with which he consolidates third place with 178 points. Oncu, the third youngest rider in history to reach the Supersport podium, lies eighth with 90 points.
The next Supersport World Championship will take place on 17-19 September at the Catalunya Barcelona circuit in Spain.

Nevers Magny Cours – France
Supersport World Championship
Race 14: 1) Gonzales (Yamaha) – 2) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 3) Oncu (Kawasaki) – 4) Oettl (Kawasaki) – 5) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 4) Odendaal (Yamaha) – 6) Caricasulo (Yamaha)

Can Oncu

“I said before this race that I could take a podium for Kawasaki. Kawasaki is a bike that can get on the podium but the only challenge is getting the race set-up correct. With a good set-up this podium arrived today and hopefully we will be nearer the front from now on. For sure this is our first but not our last podium and hopefully we will have much better ones in Barcelona. I want to thank everyone, especially Kenan Sofuoglu. When I was broken as a rider he prepared me and I want to say thanks to all of the Turkish guys and everybody from Kawasaki Puccetti Racing.“

Philipp Oettl

“Today was a better race compared to the first one but still too short at only 12 laps. Yesterday we struggled more with the tyre but in the warm-up this morning we came up with a better solution for our tyre wear. Toward the end I could close the gap to Can. I passed him a few times but I was not able to make the move stick. I had the feeling that we were faster at that point but only 12-laps today. Today, for the championship was good, but as a race I was not 100% satisfied.”