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Lucas Mahias achieved a dominating victory on Sunday at Magny-Cours, in only his second race as a substitute rider for injured Florian Marino with the Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team. To the delight of an ecstatic home crowd, the young Frenchman led from pole and didn’t look back once until the chequered flag had waved signalling his tremendous victory.

In his first call to action in STK1000 this year at Misano, Mahias took his incredible first victory after leading Cup contenders Raffeale De Rosa and Leandro Mercado clashed too hard and crashed out of the race. The consistent Frenchman stayed behind just out of harms way, reaping the benefits of the crash afterwards with his first unexpected victory. However his second victory on Sunday was anything but unexpected. After showing consistency all weekend and earning his first pole position, it was no surprise when Mahias crushed all opposition to win with over three seconds to spare.

"It was a very good race for me at home,” exclaimed a euphoric Mahias. “It was not easy for me or the team because in this morning's warm up I crashed and destroyed the bike, so they had a lot of work to do! At the beginning of the race I didn't have the same feeling as the rest of the weekend but I pushed hard to gain a gap, which I managed to extend throughout the race. It's my second race in the STK1000 and my second win. So this is perfect!"

The impressive victory proved the native endurance rider’s stamina and experience of his home circuit and the local spectators helped to fuel his fire even further to push for the victory. The young Frenchman celebrated his win with the cheering crowds with a wheelie over the finishing line.

"It's my second race in STK1000 and my second victory, and this was in front of my fans, so it was something special," stated Mahias. “I do not know about the future, but obviously I will have to continue replacing Marino in Jerez, so it will be a third race for me ... and I hope that I can make it a third victory! Then we'll see how the talks go for next year."

Mahias will make his last 2016 FIM Superstock Cup appearance at Jerez on the 14^th to 16^th of October where the last round will see the Cup Winner be decided between Raffaele De Rosa and Leandro Mercado.