Solid weekend at Magny-Cours in France for Team 109 after the summer break

Benat Fernandez continues to lead the 2025 FIM Supersport 300 World Championship after another successful weekend in the latest round of the series at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France this past weekend.

Easing into the weekend on Friday morning the talented Spaniard qualified fifth in Superpole but unfortunately received a penalty which meant he would start at the back of the grid.

Unphased the #7 Retro Traffic Team 109 Kove rider carved through the field to cross the line in a more than respectable eleventh after eleven hard fought laps in race one on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday’s second race saw Fernandez in contention for the win, and had it not been for an incident on the final lap that saw two riders collide it may well have been a podium. Benat crossed the line fifth, part of a nine riders’ group that had swapped places throughout. He added valuable points to his championship tally and bagged the Pirelli Best Lap award.

The next round of WorldSSP300 takes place at Motorland Aragon in three weeks, where the team is based, and a circuit that Benat knows well. He will arrive there with an eleven-point lead in the world championship with six races remaining – two at Aragon, two in Estoril and two in Jerez.

Benat Fernandez:

“The weekend was difficult for us, after I made a mistake in the Free Practice and I got a ‘back of the grid’ penalty for race one. The qualifying was quite nice. I managed to make a chaotic lap overtaking many riders in most of the corners, but I was still one second from the pole time. Race one was hard because after making a good start I had an issue with another rider that almost hit me, and I lost a lot of positions and the opportunity to reach the front group because it created a gap for them. I felt good racing in the group, and I finished eleventh. The result is not what I wanted but it was good points for the championship. Race two was pure crazy. I was pushing every lap like it was the last one, trying to overtake as many bikes as possible in the corners because when we were going into the back straight all of them were easily able to overtake me because of the slipstream. I finished fifth because of an incident on the last lap involving other riders in front but I took more good points for the championship which is the target. I gave my best and the team did a good job, and I am ready to race at Aragon. We will not give up.”

Paul Tobin – Team Principal:

“The weekend started ok. Track conditions weren’t perfect, but Benat put in a good lap towards the end of the session. We made some changes for Superpole, and he did well with the fifth fastest time. Unfortunately, we were given a penalty for riding slow in some sectors which is something we will learn from. Starting from P32 on the grid in race one, Benat rode a great race. The maximum he could do was eleventh which was valuable points for the championship. He started P10 on the grid for race two and he was able to fight at the front for the whole race. It’s normal with everyone fighting for the same piece of track for riders to get pushed about a bit and in the end, we were able to end the race with a fifth-place finish. It could have been better but could have been a lot worse. We move on to Aragon with our focus there firstly on Superpole. Overall, we arrived in the France leading the world championship by one point and we leave with an eleven-point lead so we can be happy about that.”