French World Superbike Race 1 Results: Van der Mark wins crash strewn first race

Michael van der Mark took 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 slicks, and Bulega fell on the first lap putting him out of contention and sending him to the medical centre.

However, after three laps the rain was falling again, and Garrett Gerloff went to the front on intermediates front and rear.

Other riders pitted, including Alvaro Bautista. The reigning champion had started 17th but was fourth by the time the pit stops shook 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 intervention 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 tandem 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 after falling at turn 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 changed 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 fourth, Andrea Iannone was one of few non-crashers and took fifth.

Xavi Vierge crossed the line sixth, but lost that position to his Honda teammate Iker Lecuona as a result of a six-second 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 back on and took eighth place in the end; while Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alessandro Delbianco - riding this weekend in place of Dominique Aegerter - completed the top 10.