Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado charges into the Fassi French Round 14 points ahead of arch rival Raffaele De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) aiming to win the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. But it isn’t just De Rosa who has a chance at stealing the Cup: Nuova M2 Racing’s Kevin Calia is also mathematically in contention for the win.

The Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team rider has a mathematical chance to steal the crown in the penultimate Round of the 2016 Cup. If the weekend goes his way, it will be the Argentinean’s second STK1000 Cup win at the venue which saw him take the crown just two years ago in 2014.

With almost every Round seeing a fierce battle between the two protagonists, winning at the French Round could be a difficult feat if the Ducati rider wants to be crowned this weekend. If Tati takes the race victory at Magny-Cours, De Rosa must finish third or more for the Cup to be decided.

However if say, Mercado finishes the race in third place, De Rosa must finish in P10 or more and Calia must finish third or more for ‘Tati’ to be able to secure the Cup.

But if the Argentinian finishes in fourth, to secure the title De Rosa must finish in P13 or more and Calia must finish fourth or more. If the Aruba.it Racing- Junior Team rider finishes fifth then De Rosa would have to finish in P15 or out of the points, while Calia would have to finish fifth or more for Mercado to take the title.

If Mercado finishes outside of the top five on Sunday, the STK1000 Cup will go down to the wire to be decided in the final round at Jerez.