EXCITING CONTENT
The near miss man was of course Regis Laconi in 2004 , when he just lost the title fight in a final round decider to James Toseland . These have been the individual high water marks in terms of the WorldSBK championship itself , with Roche scoring 23 race wins , Laconi 11 , Guintoli 9 , Loris Baz 2 and the mentor to a whole host of French riders , Adrien Morillas , one . But what a famous one , as he won on a sit-up-and-beg GPX750R Kawasaki at the Hungaroring in the first year of the championship , way back in 1988 . But the most remarkable aspect of looking at France ’ s place in the WorldSBK paddock in general is how utterly dominant France is in the WorldSSP championship . Seventh overall in terms of WorldSBK Race wins ( 46 ) and sixth on terms of WorldSBK podiums ( 150 ). Turn our attentions to WorldSSP however and France is well ahead of the rest in terms of race wins , with 65 . The next nearest is Turkey - and Kenan Sofuoglu - on 43 . The next after that is Australia , on 36 . The same story for WorldSSP podiums , with 182 for French riders earning a top-three since the start of the series in 1999 , and the next best country being Australia with 127 .
Pole positions ? France 76 Australia 43 . And so on . Four different WorldSSP champions have hailed from France so far . Sebastien Charpentier won the title twice , while Stephane Chambon , Fabien Foret and Lucas Mahias have all taken the title over the years . Add in Jules Cluzel , Andy Verdoia and Yoann Tiberio as WorldSSP Race winners alongside the ‘ big four ’ champions . Then acknowledge Florian Marino , William Costes . Mathieu Lagrive and Corentin Perolari as podium scorers and France is where it is at in World Supersport racing . Question is , why ? There are equally big countries without the same record in WorldSSP as France , so there is something special about the relationship between middleweight road-going machinery and the country of Le Mans , Paul Ricard and where many of you may be standing right now - Magny Cours . Why is France so strong in WorldSSP ? Well , lots of French racers will queue up to tell you that budgets for racing outside France are difficult to find , even if big oil players like the WorldSBK championship title sponsor Motul are based in France . That idea has some legs , especially when you think of the privateer French
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