World Superbike standings leader Jonathan Rea says he is not focusing on the championship despite the French round presenting him with his first opportunity to secure a historic third title.
After a dominant double victory at the last round in Portugal, Rea now leads the standings by 120 points, and needs to outscore Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes by just five points to win a third title.
If he is successful, the Northern Irishman will become the first rider in WorldSBK history to win three championships back-to-back.
Despite being so close to an historic achievement, Rea is instead focusing on simply getting the best from his ZX-10RR at a circuit he has enjoyed success at in the past.
“I’m excited for this weekend, especially after such a strong weekend in Portimao, where we remained for a day of testing after the race,” the two-time Magny-Cours race winner said.
“We found some positives that we can perhaps implement this weekend to give me some extra confidence on corner entry.
“Magny-Cours is a great circuit and one that I’ve been strong at in the past.
“The circuit itself requires a little compromise when setting up the bike and we will also have to keep in mind the weather, as at this time of the year anything can happen.
“This weekend is the first opportunity we have to try to win the 2017 WorldSBK championship.
“I want to put that out of my mind for now and go and do my best in both races. I’m confident with how the ZX-10RR is now, and that we can go and fight for race wins.”
Rea‘s team-mate Sykes hopes to participate in this weekend’s French round after undergoing surgery on a badly broken finger in a fiery fall in Portugal.
The Yorkshireman snapped the little finger on his left hand in half and damaged his wrist when he fell from his Kawasaki during third practice at Portimao – his ZX-10RR spectacularly bursting into flames as it hit the ground.
Sykes had hoped to make the second race of the weekend at the Algarve, but the strength of the painkillers given to him stopped this from happening.
The Kawasaki rider will try to ride and assess his physical condition on Friday at Magny-Cours before deciding if he will continue for the rest of the weekend.
“I had a successful operation and now we are doing things on the medical side to make it as comfortable as possible for me to ride this weekend,” said Sykes.
“We’ll play it by ear and on Friday we’ll try to build up to the full weekend of racing.”
