Practice

Small gains for PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda on Friday at Magny-Cours

Round nine of the 2025 Superbike World Championship is now in play at the historic French circuit of Nevers Magny-Cours.

On Friday morning, PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tito Rabat and Zaqhwan Zaidi headed out onto a dry track for the weekend’s first free practice. Taking time to refamiliarize himself with the French track, Rabat made gradual progress in this opening session. Able to find a little more in the final stages, the Spaniard set a fastest time of 1’38.126 to place eighteenth. Teammate Zaidi took the time to learn yet another new track, working step by step to find a comfortable and effective setup. The Malaysian rookie rounded out FP1 with a time of 1’41.822.

Back out for FP2 later in the day, the two riders again enjoyed dry albeit cool, cloudy conditions. Both riders continued to work hard to find an effective setup for their CBR1000RR-R machines around the French track. Able to shave a few tenths off his best of FP1, Tito placed twenty-first with a time of 1’37.869. Taking almost two seconds off his earlier time, Zaidi rounded out the day behind his team-mate in twenty-third position (1’39.922).

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will be back out tomorrow for one last practice session, followed by the Superpole qualifying, and the first of the weekend’s 21-lap races.

Tito Rabat #53

“We struggled a little today. We started well this morning but then in the afternoon’s session, we found we were losing too much time in acceleration, something we need to solve for tomorrow. I was happy about this morning because it had been a long time since we’d ridden but we nevertheless achieved good lap times and a good position. The problems arose in FP2, but we’ll work hard to sort those out tomorrow.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I think we made good progress in today’s two practice sessions. First, I need to learn the layout, which I’m starting to understand lap by lap. I feel I’ve improved more today than I did on day one at the last round, so that leaves me positive. And we also have a good direction to follow for tomorrow; let’s see what we can do in Superpole and Race 1. A big thanks to the team for all their hard work, and now we look forward to Saturday.”

Race One

Points for both Rabat and Zaidi in an encouraging SBK Race 1 at Magny-Cours

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has put together an encouraging Race 1 at the French circuit of Nevers Magny-Cours, a consisting performance from Rabat and Zaidi rewarding both riders with points today.

After completing Friday’s practices, the duo was back out this morning for another short practice, which ran on a dry track. Working to make final setup refinements ahead of Superpole, Rabat was able to find a little more pace with respect to Friday, while Zaidi continued to gain confidence and understanding of this technical French track, one he is competing at for the first time.

The Superpole ran in dry, sunny conditions in the late morning. Rabat and Zaidi both headed into this brief qualifying session with a positive attitude. Looking to continue the progress made during practice, Rabat completed seven laps, the best of which in 1’37.506. This lap time translated into a sixth-row start, in twentieth position, for the afternoon’s first race. Zaidi continued to focus on his own growth path and chip away at his lap times. With the qualifying tyre, the Malaysian rookie put in a best of 1’39.104 – eight tenths quicker than his best free practice reference – to place twenty-first at the session’s end.

As the lights went out on the first of the weekend’s 21-lap races, both riders got away well from row six. Making up ground after a series of crashes for other riders, Rabat and Zaidi were lying seventeenth and eighteenth by the end of lap one. Soon up inside the points zone, a tenacious Tito did his best to maintain a consistent pace for the duration of the 21-lap race, gaining another position in the final stages to cross the line an encouraging fourteenth.

Losing contact with teammate Tito after the first few laps, rookie Zaqhwan focused on putting together a clean race, without mistakes. Making up three more places over the course of the race, the Malaysian closed Race 1 in fifteenth position to score his first championship point of the season.

Tito Rabat #53

“A very difficult race today, to be honest. Yes, we took two points but finished too far from the frontrunners. The drop in tyre performance was not too big, which is a good thing, but we need to build speed out of the corners. Without that, it’s impossible to follow the group. The good news is that we’re clear about what we need to do and will work hard to harness our bike’s strengths and try to improve on the result in tomorrow’s races.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I’m happy to have achieved a point and didn’t expect this result today, honestly. We’ve worked hard this weekend, and this result has given me and the team motivation to try and score a similar result tomorrow. We’ll try something different with the setup to improve more tomorrow, but generally I felt I was able to maintain good pace in Race 1. I’ll try my best again in tomorrow’s races; let’s see what we can do.”

Race Two

Rabat and Zaidi tackle Sunday’s WorldSBK races at Magny-Cours

The Magny-Cours Circuit in France has staged the final day of the ninth WorldSBK round, in which PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tito Rabat and Zaqhwan Zaidi worked hard in the day’s races.

After a brief warm-up in the early morning, the team prepared for the ten-lap sprint race, which ran in dry, sunny conditions. Lining up on the seventh row of the grid, both Rabat and Zaidi made a strong start to the Superpole Race and set about establishing a good rhythm. In what was a rather uneventful race for the pair, the Spanish rider was able to confirm final eighteenth position, with Malaysian rookie Zaidi placing nineteenth across the line.

The weekend’s second and final 21-lap Superbike race also took place in the dry, with Rabat and Zaidi again beginning from row seven. It was not a lucky day for Tito, however, with the Spaniard suffering a problem with his rear tyre soon after the start, an issue that forced him to return to the garage on lap 8. Motivated to do well in Race 2 after scoring his first championship point in Saturday’s Race 1, Zaqhwan did well, narrowing the gap to the leaders in terms of lap time and showing a consistent pace that allowed him to successfully cross the finish line, a solid P18.

In the championship standings, Rabat positions twenty-fourth with six points and Zaidi twenty-sixth with one point. Next up for the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is round ten, scheduled to take place on 26-28 September at Motorland Aragón in Spain.

Tito Rabat

“I don’t know what happened but there was something strange with the rear tyre in Race 2. It was sliding around a lot and couldn’t maintain any kind of pace. I didn’t feel it was safe to ride and so I came back to the pits. I wanted to head back out but unfortunately, I was unable to rejoin the race. I’m very disappointed because the weekend was very hard, aside from FP1 which had started quite positively. It is what it is anyway; all we can do is stay strong and keep working.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi

“I felt today went well. We improved the pace and lap times with respect to earlier sessions and I’m happy with the progress we’ve made over the weekend. We know we’re still far from the front but we’re working hard to improve and close the gap with every race. I’m focused on doing my best each weekend, and I want to thank the team for all their work here. Let’s stay motivated and get ready to fight at the next round.”