Newsletter

The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

25 September 2019

Magny Cours Awaits For Mahias And Okubo

Lucas Mahias and Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) head to Lucas’ home round in France this weekend for the tenth round of the WorldSSP championship, to be held at Magny Cours between Friday 27th and Sunday 29th September.

A straight run of podium finishes in WorldSSP events at Misano, Donington and most recently Portimao, mean that 2017 FIM Supersport World Champion Mahias is consolidated in an overall fourth place in the rankings.
 
In the build-up to his home round in France Mahias is more determined to take his first Kawasaki race win than ever. He has three more opportunities in 2019 – including the French round.
 
So far Lucas has also taken a pole position and recorded the fastest lap of the Assen round in April. He has now made 44 career race starts in WorldSSP, which matches his 2019 season race number.
 
Okubo, who was in the position of being best ranked Kawasaki rider this season for most of the early rounds, is still having the best season he has had in WorldSSP.
 
Having equalled his previous best single race finish of fourth, and having scored in every single round so far, Okubo is fifth in the championship, just 16 points behind Mahias. Lucas has 98 points and Hikari 82.
 
The tenth round of the championship this season, Magny Cours will host its 17th WorldSSP round of all time on Sunday. The 4.411km long circuit, located at the epicentre of the French mainland, will offer up a challenge in its layout and possibly its weather conditions.
 
After Magny Cours the championship will head to its penultimate round at El Villicum in Argentina, between the 11th and 13th of October.
 
Lucas Mahias, stated: “I am ready for Magny Cours and for sure it is a special race because it is my home race. I am not Italian and do not have two rounds – I just have one round in France, so that makes it important! I have not always had the best results at Magny Cours but I don’t know why. Sometimes I do not have good luck but maybe it will be different this year, my first in Magny Cours with the Kawasaki. I am ready to work hard over the weekend to take the best feeling from the bike and I hope to win the race. It is fully a different feeling from the last few rounds where I was ready to fight for the podium. This time I am ready just to win. It is really important for me and for Kawasaki. I am ready for Magny Cours and the weather is the big question, because when you look at different weather forecasts it is different. Sometimes it says rain and sometimes no rain but for sure cold. I am an old Endurance rider and I like these conditions.”
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “In recent races I haven’t been able to score the results I wanted and so I can’t wait to get on track at Magny Cours and get back to my usual level. Though I like the track, I’ve never achieved particularly strong results here and so this time I want to turn things around and aim for the podium. I think it’s possible, a good target. I had a good race in last week’s EWC Bol d’Or round, also in France, so this can help me to have a strong WorldSSP ride at Magny Cours.”
 
Ayrton Badovini enjoyed fifth place at the previous round in Portugal and alongside his Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki team-mate Kyle Smith he has even loftier ambitions for the French round. Ayrton moved up to 13th overall at Portimao and Kyle is currently 17th. Kyle heads the class-within-a-class FIM Europe Supersport Cup (ESS).
 
Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team Kawasaki) is currently 20th, tied on points with Rob Hartog (Team Hartog – Against Cancer Kawasaki) who is 21st. Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) and ESS rider Gaetan Matern (Flembbo Racing Team Kawasaki) will join their colleagues in France.
 
                                                       #NinjaSpirit