Loris Baz not only scored two podiums as an independent rider at his own home races in Magny Cours but scored two second places, with only the two 2020 titans – Rea and then Redding – ahead of him. He was sixth in the sprint on Sunday morning, but his successes came in the big scoring long races – races one and two.

With a deserved reputation for being a top wet weather rider in the past, nobody should have been surprised at his displays, but Baz was happier about race two, for reasons he quickly explained.

“I am happy to be second again and more than yesterday,” he said on Sunday. “These conditions I don’t like, never liked, and I am always struggling to go fast when it is wet but not raining. I love when it is really raining a lot and the more it rains the faster I am. But when the water goes away I am always struggling with the heat of the tyres.

“We did not know which tyre to choose for the Superpole race and five minutes from the end of the grid it started to rain more so I said, ‘OK, we go for the soft wet,’. In the end I was struggling all race, with the heat of the rear so I just tried to have a better place on the grid for race two.

“Race two was the same. My crew chief gave me the confidence to use the hard rear wet and it worked pretty well. I expected to struggle a lot at the beginning but at the end it was faster anyway.

“Maybe it could have been even faster in the first laps but I did not know what to expect from this tyre. I am super-happy, a strong weekend again, a lot of points and that is important.

“In France, home round, and we have some fans compared to previous rounds, seated for hours under the rain. I have some people from my family here so always proud to do it at home. I would have liked to bring a win but I think Scott had a few tenths more than me today and I think I had more chance to win on Saturday, to be honest.

I felt more comfortable yesterday. Today I knew if I was going to push I was going to overheat the tyre and lose more. I was just trying to find the right balance to ride. Everybody was playing with that. I spoke to Chaz and Scott and they said the same. They were struggling with the heat of the tyre. Chaz was coming back on me a lot, like a second per lap, and then he stayed there because I think he just killed the tyre. So it was not easy.”

Baz is still not 100 per cent sure where he will ride next year, factory team or stay where he is, but he said of his chances being improved by his second places, “For sure it will help, I think. Anyway, it is better to be second than crash in both races. I think it will help but I was not thinking about that coming here.

“I am more the kind of rider who says you should look at the whole performance since joining the championship with Ten Kate. The team has been doing a really good job, considering the level of this championship.

“I would look at the overall performance instead of just looking at one week, but we are more than two years in so hopefully they look at more than just the last race, but the last race was good for me.”