Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea could lift his sixth straight WorldSBK title at Magny-Cours this weekend should he finish 63 points ahead of Scott Redding come Sunday evening.

Rea enjoys a 51 point lead at present and if this should grow to 63 points or more in France Rea will be crowned champion no matter the results of the final round, to be held at Estoril in Portugal, in mid-October.

Of his five successive championship wins, Rea has secured three of them at Magny-Cours, in the 2017, ‘18 and ‘19 seasons and has taken six of his all-time record 97 race victories at the track.

“Magny-Cours is a circuit I have a lot of special memories of in the past. Recently they have resurfaced the circuit so we need to pay attention to that,” said Rea.

“In Magny-Cours we will face cooler weather conditions than we have for most of this season’s championship. There is always the possibility that it will be wet but we will just take that in our stride. Magny is different to the circuits we have been riding on during the season so far.

“It is very stop and go, with a lot of hard acceleration and fast changes of direction. We have been strong in those areas in the past so we just need to understand our base set-up and manipulate that as the track requests.

“I have been feeling good with the bike this season and I am excited to get stuck in. Of course, while we need to keep one eye on the weather forecast, the target is always the same - to win races and go step-by-step.”