Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will take no further part in the Pirelli French Round after being declared unfit following the Tissot Superpole Race. The British rider had been running inside the top five in the 10-lap race but brought his bike into the pits to retire shortly after the halfway stage, and the two-time MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship winner has been ruled out for the remainder of the event at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours with a left knee injury.

Lowes took eighth in Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session, lapping around six tenths slower than Garrett Gerloff’s (Bonovo Action BMW) pole position time. In Race 1, Lowes was fighting for a top-six finish but a late-race trip across the Turn 11-12 chicane dropped him down to eighth, where he finished. In Sunday Warm Up, the #22 was eighth again but, like in Race 1, he made gains in the Superpole Race to fight in the top five before retiring.

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