#FrenchWorldSBK -10 things you need to know before the Acerbis French Round
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) recorded his 20th career double in Portimao: he is the first rider to reach this goal in WorldSBK history. Rea recorded his sixth win in a row, and in Magny-Cours he is in the position to attack the third and fourth all time sequences of wins.
2. With a healthy lead of 116 points over the only two riders in contention for the title: Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and 136 over Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Rea has the first chance to clinch his fourth title in Magny Cours Race 1. Magny Cours is the track which gave Rea his third title last year in Race 1.
3. Rea is set for his 99th and 100th race for Kawasaki in Magny Cours. So far he has won 51 races and climbed on the podium 87 times for the Japanese manufacturer.
4. Rea has another all time record in sight. His podium tally is now 129 which is only one short of the record of Troy Corser, who set the bar at 130 on the first Race in Misano, 2010.
5. Ducati have won exactly half of the races run in Magny-Cours: 16 out of 32.
6. Despite recording 16 wins at this track, a Ducati bike has qualified from pole only in the 2003 weekend, when James Toseland recorded his maiden WorldSBK pole.
7. The most successful rider here is Noriyuki Haga, with five wins from 2004 to 2009. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Rea and Davies are all in the position to equal him this year, but they have to record a double to do it.
8. Last year Chaz Davies recorded a remarkable feat as he won Race 2 from the 11th grid spot, the only win coming outside the top 10 grid spots here.
9. In the last eight years, only British riders have qualified for pole in Magny-Cours: Cal Crutchlow (2010), Jonathan Rea (2011, 2016, 2017), Tom Sykes (2012 to 2014) and Leon Haslam (2015).
10. Only two riders amongst the current ones have started from pole here: Kawasaki duo of Tom Sykes (2012, 2013, 2014) and Jonathan Rea (2011, 2016, 2017).
