---
title: "Rea aiming for ‘big points’ at Magny Cours"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/09/29/rea-aiming-big-points-magny-cours/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "SBK"
published: "2016-09-29T15:24:53Z"
modified: "2016-09-29T16:49:41Z"
---

# Rea aiming for ‘big points’ at Magny Cours

World Superbike Championship leader Jonathan Rea heads to the French round of the 2016 season at Magny-Cours with a 47-point advantage over Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes, but has expressed his discontent at this and is aiming to increase it further this weekend.

Rea enjoyed a mixed weekend last time out at the Lauistzring. His championship challenge almost took a massive knock when a mechanical issue caused him to crash out of the opening race whilst Sykes took second, cutting his lead to just 26 points.

However, Rea was back to winning ways in Sunday’s second race, which was run in treacherously wet conditions. Amazingly, Sykes crashed out at Turn 10, the same corner Rea had fallen at just 24 hours earlier, on the opening lap. With Rea cruising off into the distance, he elevated himself 47 points clear in the championship.

Despite having a pretty healthy lead, the Northern Irishman doesn’t consider it comfortable enough with six races still to go, citing the contrasting fortunes for himself and Sykes in Germany and the ease with which both riders lost points as the reason.

Having secured the double at Magny Cours last year, and feeling strong on his ZX-10R, Rea comes into this weekend’s tenth round of the championship confident and is looking forward to hitting the track for first practice on Friday.

“A wet race win in Germany was a nice way to finish the weekend last time out and I have l slept really well this week,” said Rea.

“I am looking forward to Magny Cours because I have had a good history there and I enjoy riding it. It is always pretty full of French fans and, of course, it is that crucial time of the season now. We have a points advantage but not enough to be comfortable with, so we still have to go out and make big points in France. Of course, at this stage of the year I am thinking about the gap but I do not want to let it affect my riding. We can’t really manage a 47-point lead because we can see how easy it is to lose a bunch of points.

“But going into the weekend in France I am happy and confident on the bike and we have a lot of data for the track. We know what works there and we will start with a good base and work step-by-step through the weekend.”