Michael van der Mark tﷺook victory in WorldSBK Race 1 at Magny-Cours, in a race that saw only 12 of the 22 starters finish.

The race started on a drying track, leading to a number of different tyre choices. Nicolo Bulega, for 🌞example, took intermediates, while Alex Lowes and Scott Redding took slicks.

The early conditions were for slꦰicks, and Bulega fell on the first lap putting him out o꧒f contention and sending him to the medical centre.

However, after three laps the rain w﷽as falling again, and Garrett Gerloff went to the front on int꧋ermediates front and rear.

Other riders pitted, including Alvaro Bautista. The reigning champion had sta♉rted 17th but was fourth by the time the pit stops sho🤡ok out.

Gerloff initially appeared to have made good ground. His intermediates meant he didn't stop when others did, and he took a 26-second lead when the rest boxed. But he later crashed, remounted in the lead, and then pitted for full wets. Not adhering to the pit lane intervent꧑ion time earned him a one-minute penalty, meaning he finished last of the 12 classified finishers.

He was far from the only rider to crash. Scott Redding, who ended up fourth, crashed while trying to pass Danilo Petrucci; Remy Gardner crashed twice, the second ending his race; Alex Lowes crashed out of the lead, then remounted but was given the black and orange flag for bike damage; Jonathan Rea crashed in tandemꩵ with the aforementioned Bulega and appeared to have hurt his wrist. 

There were also crashes for Tarran Mackenzie, Philipp Oettl, Tito Rabat, Ivo Lopes, and Sam Lowes, who grabbed his collarbone aft🎐er falling at t🐎urn five.

Alex Lowes' crash out ꧅of the elad gave van der Mark the lead with around half the race to go. The Dutchman led by nine seconds over Alvaro Bautista, a gap which barely cha🍌nged until the chequered flag, as van der Mark picked up his first victory since the Superpole Race at Portimao in 2021.

Bautista completed a strong ride to go from🔯 17th on the grid to finish second, despite his woeful wet weather speed in Superpole, and Danilo Petrucci completed the podium.

Scott Redding remounted after his crash to finish fou🌳rth, Andrea Iannone was one of few non-crashers an🏅d took fifth.

Xavi Vierge crossed the line sixth, but lo🌜st that position to his Honda teammate Iker Lecuona as a result of a six-seco🧸nd pit lane intervention penalty, meaning he took seventh place.

Andrea Locatelli was yet another crasher, early on when running on intermediates at turn five. He got bac🎀k on and took eighth place in the end; while Michae💯l Ruben Rinaldi and Alessandro Delbianco - riding this weekend in place of Dominique Aegerter - completed the top 10.