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It’s been a long time since the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship raced in 2025, but that changes at the French Round as the second half of the season kicks off at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. Four rounds remain as the fight to be the final Champion heats up, with only one point separating the top two and 30 points keeping the top four apart with eight races remaining.

TAKING STOCK: A tight Championship battle in store

Benat Fernandez (Team#109 Retro Traffic Kove) holds a slender advantage over the rest of the field with 134 points, only one ahead of Julio Garcia (Prodina Kawasaki Racing Sport). However, the Spaniard has been ruled out of the French Round through an injury sustained in training, with Mirko Gennai replacing him. The Italian departed MTM Kawasaki over the summer, with Loris Veneman taking his place; he’s been on the podium twice at the French venue for MTM Kawasaki. Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) sits third as he looks to end WorldSSP300’s final campaign as a three-time World Champion – and he’s won four times there in the JuniorGP™ World Championship this year, finishing 11^th in a wet-weather race. David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) is fourth, 30 points down on Fernandez, and will hope to close the gap.

NOT OUT OF IT JUST YET: A big gap to make up

Rising Australian star Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) sits fifth in the standings with a relatively big gap to Fernandez out in front, with the #50 trailing the Basque rider by 43 points. However, with 200 available across the final rounds of the campaign, Thompson is still in the mix, but he’ll need to start making consistent gains from this weekend onwards. Brazil’s Humberto Maier (Yamaha AD78 FIMLA by MS Racing) is a further 13 points behind, making his title challenge unlikely, with the #12 level on 80 points with Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) in seventh.

LOOKING TO END A LONG DROUGHT: Will Vannucci repeat his 2022 Magny-Cours victory?

Marco Gaggi (Team BrCorse) will hope to score strong results to tighten his grip on eighth in the standings or even take a big chunk out of the gap to P7; he’s currently 22 points behind Maier and Torres. Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300) is a race winner at Magny-Cours, but he’s now not taken victory in the Championship for more than two years, with his last win coming at Imola in 2023; his podium drought is also closing in on two years. Pepe Osuna (ZAPPAS-DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team) rounds out the top ten in the standings with 46 points, the same as the #91.

WILDCARDS, REPLACEMENT RIDERS AND MORE: Grid changes for the French Round

The Kawasaki Junior Team by MTM made a line-up change over the summer, with Petr Svoboda dropping out and Giacomo Zannini coming in. Filip Novotny has been replaced by Troy Sovicka at the Accolade Funds Smrz Racing BGR squad. Romeo Moneyron makes his WorldSSP300 debut with Team Flembbo – Racing Development, on the Kawasaki Ninja 400. Daniel Ocete makes his second appearance of the season with the Pons Motorsport Italika Racing squad, also with Kawasaki machinery, while Jakob Rosenthaler is in as a wildcard for Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing; the Austrian had filled in for Phillip Tonn during his recovery, but the German – subject to being declared fit on Thursday – is back in action. Uriel Hidalgo (ZAPPAS-DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team), Emiliano Ercolani (Kawasaki GP Project) and Emanuele Cazzaniga (Racestar Trasimeno) will also need to pass pre-round medical checks in order to race at the weekend. Elsewhere, a new rider will make their debut: up and coming Indonesian rider Arai Agaska, who competes in the FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup, will make his first WorldSSP300 appearance with the ProGP NitiRacing squad.

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