Rinaldi: “I really love to battle with Toprak, I have huge respect for him”

The pair fought for victory in both Race 1 and the Superpole Race at the Magny-Cours WorldSBK round, and although he failed to finish the latter, Rinaldi was back at his best.

Not a circuit that’s typically been one of his strongest, Rinaldi matches his best result from last season as he claimed second place in Race 1.

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In contention to then win the Superpole Race, Rinaldi was hit by teammate Alvaro Bautista after the Spaniard went too deep into turn five.

Discussing his Race 1 fight with Razgatlioglu, Rinaldi added: "I made a good start and tried to give 120% with the tyre; I used it a lot to stay with Toprak, as he was managing it a bit. 

"It brought us out of a three-rider group. Unfortunately, Alvaro had some issues and we had a nice, nice battle with Toprak. 

"At the end, my tyre was dead because I didn’t manage it as well. It’s OK because it’s good for me but also a good way to say ‘thanks’ to my team, as at the end of the year, I will not be there but we still have chances to make good memories. 

"I really love to battle with Toprak because it can be hard but inside the limit. When he overtook me, I just said ‘OK, you can do that’ as I did it; it’s not a big problem. 

"It was a really nice battle, I have huge respect for him and he had respect for me and at the end, he had something more."

Another Italian rider who had a strong weekend was Andrea Locatelli, as the Pata Yamaha rider got stronger in every race.

After claiming a double P4 finish on Sunday, Locatelli said: "I’m very happy, especially about Race 2 – fortunately after restarted the race, I was feeling much better on the bike and could push right until the end and I finished in P4. 

"For me, we had really good results here in Magny-Cours and made a really big improvement – also compared to Most. 

"So let’s see what happens in the next rounds! But for sure, it is a good end to this weekend with a good feeling and a good step forward, so I am really excited to go to Aragon now. 

"In the Superpole Race, we were close to the podium but lost a little bit in the first four or five laps – I recovered a lot under braking compared to Jonathan, but I lost a little bit on the exit of the corner so it was difficult for me to overtake! 

"We need to be happy, we brought home really good results – also for the championship and we will see what happens in the next races."