Federico Sandi (MOTOCORSA Racing) has taken the last ever STK1000 pole position after he topped the timesheets in the Acerbis French Round, fending off points leader Markus Reiterberger (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) by just 0.013 seconds to take a slice of history. Reiterberger lines up second and is the first of the title hopefuls, with Roberto Tamburini (Berclaz Racing Team) – his closest competition – completing the front row.

Contender Maximilian Scheib (Aprilia Racing Team) heads up Row 2 and was close to the two men he’s fighting for the crown, ahead of teammate Luca Vitali, with Eric Vionnet (MOTOS VIONNET) completing the second row on the grid in an impressive performance from the Swiss rider.

Home hearts will be behind Florian Marino (URBIS Yamaha Motoxracing STK Team), who starts seventh, with Alessandro Delbianco (GULF Althea BMW Racing Team), Luca Salvadori (Berclaz Racing Team) and Jan Buehn (alpha Racing-Van Zon-BMW) completing the top ten.

Watch STK1000’s swan song from Magny-Cours on Sunday LIVE on WorldSBK VideoPass, with the lights going out for the last ever race in the class at 11:40 (GMT +2).