Saturday’s Race 1 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours was a thrilling spectacle that saw MV Agusta Reparto Corse rider Leon Camier storm ahead from fifth on the grid to lead for much of the race, in mixed conditions. Eventually as the track soon dried, his wet tires let him down as first Lorenzo Savadori (IodaRacing Team) and then eventual winner Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati) hunted the Brit down.

“It’s a pretty exciting thing to lead the race especially passing the Kawasakis,” exclaimed a happy Camier. “We made a change for the race after warm up then in qualifying it was ok but it felt like I was already on the limit at every corner so we made some changes for the race and the setting was really good. I’m really happy about this.”

Camier’s best result so far this season has been a fourth place in Race 2 at Lausitzring. After that he had his sights set on a podium, which very nearly happened on Saturday at Magny-Cours.

“The electronics were working really good but in the race I felt as the track was drying and the tires were getting hotter and more destroyed,” explained the Brit. Pretty much Savadori was quicker on wet tires but I think this is something we can work on in mixed conditions. All in all we were really strong in the wet conditions and I’m happy about this. I don’t think if I had come in to change to slicks it would have made much of a difference to how our end results were.”

While half the WorldSBK field made a pit stop mid-race to change to slicks, Camier pushed on in the lead on his slowly disintegrating wet tires. When asked why he didn’t make a change, he offered, “To be honest, when I was in front today, well... It’s always easier to judge when you’re behind to see what others are up to, so when I was in front it was hard to see where was wet and where it wasn’t. Everything pretty much looks the same when the sun is shining on the track so it makes it a difficult decision.

“The plan we came up with before the race was for the team to bring me in when I needed to come in but they knew the pit stop was going to be too slow so if I were to come I would of automatically given up the podium straight away and I would of ended up battling for the same position I got anyway. But we know it’s a point where we can improve.”

Leon Camier will have another shot at podium glory at 13:00 local time (GMT+2) on Sunday 2^nd of October for Race 2 of the 2016 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours.