September 4–6, 2026 | WorldSBK & WorldSSP Round 9 – French Round
The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours wrapped up the ninth round of the championship with yet another strong performance by Nicolo Bulega. The French weekend nonetheless yielded encouraging signs for the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team and Manuel Puccetti’s Kawasaki WorldSSP Team: Gerloff finished Race 2 as the top non-Ducati rider, while Alcoba narrowly missed the podium in Sunday’s sprint race.
GARRETT GERLOFF | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | WorldSBK
Gerloff’s weekend at Magny-Cours tells the story of a setup that improved as the weekend progressed. In Superpole, the Texan finished twelfth with a time of 1’35.523, after his best lap was disallowed for a yellow-flag violation—a recurring penalty that systematically forces him to fight his way back up the field in races. Starting from the fourth row, he finished ninth in Race 1, earning seven points in a race shortened to 12 laps by a red flag, on a day when the ZX-10RR showed greater competitiveness in the middle laps compared to the initial setup.
Sunday morning’s Superpole Race confirmed a similar picture: he finished 13th, with the bike showing improvement over the long run but still far from the benchmark times set in pure qualifying.
The most significant moment came in the afternoon. In Race 2, starting from 13th on the grid, Gerloff mounted a steady comeback that saw him pass Tommy Bridewell just as the Briton crashed on lap 20, with the red flag freezing the standings: a seventh-place finish, the first non-Ducati rider to cross the line. Behind him were Vierge, Bassani, and Gardner. This result has clear technical significance: the ZX-10RR is currently the most competitive package outside the Ducati camp in full-distance races, and Gerloff sits in eighth place in the overall standings with 126 points, an improvement over the first half of the season. The upcoming round in Cremona—the home circuit for the Puccetti team—will be a crucial event to confirm this trend.
JEREMY ALCOBA | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 | WorldSSP
Alcoba’s weekend at Magny-Cours began with one of his best qualifying sessions of the season: fifth in Superpole, second row—a starting position that should have allowed him to play a leading role in the race. However, the script was turned upside down on the second lap of Race 1, when a low-speed collision with championship leader Albert Arenas at the entrance to the Adelaide chicane sent both riders crashing. Arenas paid the highest price—zero points and a bruised right hand—while Alcoba restarted from last place, fighting his way back to a 15th-place finish and earning one championship point. A comeback of the highest caliber, yet frustrating given that the race had begun under completely different circumstances.
Race 2 restored the Spaniard to his rightful place. The race, as is traditional for the hottest European rounds on the calendar, was interrupted by a red flag and restarted over five laps: a sprint that turned everything into a high-tension finish. Alcoba, who started from 12th on the grid after a disastrous Saturday, had already climbed to fifth place on the opening lap of the restart—a blistering start that demonstrated the Spaniard’s ability to react under extreme pressure. Alcoba crossed the finish line in fifth place, 1.071 seconds behind winner Garcia, narrowly missing a podium finish in the final head-to-head with Öncü. A brake issue on the final lap limited his ability to attack, but the overall result of the weekend—one point in Race 1 and a fifth-place finish in Race 2—confirms that the Ninja ZX-6R 636 has the pace to stay in the top five when qualifying allows for a clean start.
DOMINIQUE AEGERTER | Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R 636 | WorldSSP
For Aegerter, the French round marked a weekend of partial progress, still hampered by the single-lap speed issues that have characterized his season. In Superpole, the two-time world champion finished 15th, a result that compromised his prospects for both races from the start.
In Race 1, the Swiss rider finished 17th, but the most significant development was the improvement in pace during the second half of the race, with the ZX-6R 636 finding its sweet spot on the Pirelli tires during the middle laps. In Race 2—the five-lap sprint—Aegerter finished 15th, earning one championship point, and showed a more responsive start from his grid position compared to Saturday, though it wasn’t enough to break into the leading group in a sprint format that leaves no room for a comeback. The Swiss rider made no secret of his disappointment at a result that fell short of expectations, and identified qualifying as the main area to focus on ahead of the Cremona round.
