Torres and Althea BMW seventh at Magny-Cours; podium for De Rosa, who keeps his STK1000 title hopes alive

Today’s Superbike race saw the Althea BMW Racing team playing catch-up at Magny-Cours, with riders Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger ultimately closing in seventh and twelfth place respectively. In the Superstock 1000 championship, Raffaele De Rosa keeps his title hopes alive, finishing today’s penultimate race of the season in third place and reducing the gap to Mercado to just seven points.

Superstock 1000 – Race – From second on the grid, De Rosa got away very well, maintaining his position behind Mahias. Having been passed by Razgatlioglu, the Italian pushed hard to move back into second on lap eight. Aware that he needed to score as many points as possible in order to close the gap to the championship leader, De Rosa did everything he could to fight off the Turkish rider, but, after a series of spectacular passes in the final laps, he had to settle for third place.
With only one race left to run at Jerez in two weeks’ time, De Rosa is just seven points behind championship leader Mercado, meaning that there’s everything to play for on Spanish soil on 16 October.

Superbike - Race 2 – today’s race took place in dry conditions. Torres was lapping tenth through the opening laps, while Reiti made up many positions at the start, going from 20th on the grid to thirteenth place. While Torres hunted down fellow countryman Forés, passing him mid-race thanks to a superior pace, Reiterberger also gained another position. Over the course of the next few laps, Torres reached Hayden, and then Guintoli on the last lap, to cross the line in final seventh place. Markus maintained his position through the final stages to finish twelfth.
In the general standings, Jordi Torres continues to hold seventh place with 179 points, Reiterberger lies 16th with 72 points.  BMW is fourth in the manufacturer's classification with 200 points, while Althea BMW also lies fourth in the team rankings (256 points).