Redding slows Rea's WorldSBK title charge with timely Magny-Cours win

2020 WorldSBK Magny-Cours - Race Results (2)

Scott Redding will force Jonathan Rea to ‘serve out’ the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at the season finale in Estoril after marching to victory in Magny-Cours, while his rival was just short of the points he needed to wrap it up early.

With Rea taking victory in Race 1 and the Superpole Race to move to within touching distance of a record sixth WorldSBK crown, Redding battled back to grab victory in the final outing of the weekend as weather conditions finally reached a fairly dry stage.

Rea led from pole position initially but was soon hunted down by Redding, who had carved his way up the order to second before pouncing on the lead with a pass at 180 on lap six.

From here Redding multiplied his advantage, pushing on in the best track conditions of the weekend thus far, to extend his margin out and end his Magny-Cours weekend strongly, in so doing eking the WorldSBK title battle out just that bit further.

Indeed, Rea - seemingly cautious in the evolving conditions - would lose out to Loris Baz, who notched up another podium in second position and Chaz Davies, who held the Kawasaki man off in the closing stages for third.

It means Rea is now 59 points clear of Redding with only the final round at Estoril remaining, just shy of the 62 points he needed to put it out of his countryman’s reach.

Michael van der Mark headed up the factory Yamaha challenge in fifth from Michael Ruben Rinaldi, while Alex Lowes - a double podium winner this weekend - had to make do with seventh in the final outing.

Garrett Gerloff got the better of Yamaha stablemate Toprak Razgatlioglu, while Tom Sykes recovered from his technical issues in the Superpole Race to land a top ten finish on an otherwise desperate weekend for BMW.