Max Biaggi made history by winning the 2012 World Superbike Championship by half a point from Tom Sykes - the smallest-ever margin - following a dramatic afternoon of racing at Magny-Cours.
The Aprilia rider fell on lap two of the first race, allowing rivals Sykes (Kawasaki) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) to make the podium and close the points gap to 14.5 and 18.5 points respectively.
But the Italian's fifth-placed finish in the second race was enough to ensure his second World Championship success by a margin of just 0.5 points, two years after he claimed his first title with Aprilia.
Yorkshireman Sykes had done all he could to win his first-ever championship, winning the final 23-lap race by two seconds from Jonathan Rea (Honda), but his victory was not enough to overcome Biaggi's tally of 358 points.
Sylvain Guintoli (PATA) had taken the first race by over six seconds from Melandri and by over 16 seconds from Sykes, but could only place third in the second race.
