Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Looking For More Magny-Cours Magic

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK riders Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Andrea Locatelli are ready to restart the second half of the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend at the French Round, from 9-11 September.

Magny-Cours saw Razgatlıoğlu cross the line first in all three races last year, as well as debuting his spectacular chequered-flag “stoppie” finish in Race 1! The French venue has also held celebrations for Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK in past seasons, with multiple double podiums and plenty of prosecco showers dating back to 2017. In 2021, it was then-rookie Locatelli who joined his teammate on the podium with a rousing third place finish in Race 1 as well.

Magny-Cours is also infamous for showers of another kind, as autumnal weather can make conditions in the Nièvre region difficult to predict at this time of year. Long range forecast for this week sees potential rain on Friday and cloud over the weekend, but as always no one can be sure until each session is live.

The season will officially resume when the team’s R1 WorldSBKs take to the track on Friday for Free Practice 1 and 2 from 10:30 (CEST) and 15:00 respectively, with the first championship points-paying race starting on Saturday at 14:00.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu:

“Last season, for me it was an incredible weekend in Magny-Cours! I finally made three race wins, but we all know the story about touching the green on the last lap – but the green area is my friend now, I understand better! This year, we will try again for three wins because this is my favourite track after Donington Park. I try my best again, I hope for good weather and that we can have some good fighting for the win. We will see, because this year we see all riders are very strong. I hope Loka can also come with me on the podium again like last year! After the test in Barcelona my arm injury is not so bad, I feel good - we are ready to race and I will give my best.”

Andrea Locatelli:

“After two days of testing in Barcelona we found a good base setup and I have a really good feeling with the bike. Now it will be interesting to be back on track. Magny-Cours was another great track for us last year because we had a podium, so I want to arrive there ready, feeling positive and really strong. I want to push for the maximum on the bike because it’s time to try close the gap to the front and we need to stay with our competitors. We hope for good weather but the most important is to push from Friday to understand everything and be ready for the races.”