Can Toprak Razgatlioglu match Ducati’s benchmark? | WorldSBK Portimao test talking points

The World Superbike Championship will return to action this weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for a pre-event test ahead of the Portuguese Round at the end of March.

Can Razgatlioglu rebound?

Admittedly, it is a bit hyperbolic to be searching for a ‘rebound’ in a test, but at the same time there is clearly work to be done in the Toprak Razgatlioglu camp for round two of the World Superbike Championship, and that starts at the pre-event test this weekend.

The Turkish rider left Australia at the end of last month eighth in the riders’ standings and 42 points behind Nicolo Bulega.

It was not the ideal start to his title defence, and although much of that was down to two non-scores thanks to a mistake in the Superpole Race and a mechanical problem in Race 2, the reigning champion was also rarely comfortable aboard the BMW M1000 RR.

His recurring complaint as about corner entry, and in particular the bike’s capacity to turn on the front end.

Razgatlioglu’s ability to improve in this area, therefore, will be an important aspect of this weekend’s test at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, a circuit much more similar to those that will be encountered for the remainder of the season than Phillip Island is.

Should Razgatlioglu leave the two-day test still with concerns about the front end of the BMW, it could point to the possibility of the issue persisting for the whole season.

Can Ducati maintain its advantage?

Ducati was utterly dominant in Australia, as has been extensively discussed since, but its performance at Portimao will be much more indicative of where it will be for the remainder of the year.

As aforementioned, the layout at Portimao is more relevant to the other circuits on the calendar, and it also provides one of the biggest technical challenges of the season with a combination of long and short corners, huge undulations, and the majority of the lap spent at part-throttle.

The Portuguese Round itself will hole extra importance because after Race 2 will be the first chance for the new fuel flow regulations to be altered.

Given Ducati’s domination of Phillip Island, it might be expected that they get hit with a reduction in their maximum fuel flow, but a less substantial performance in Portugal might lead to a less significant reduction.

That will have to wait, of course, for the race itself on 28–30 March, but the test should give us at least some indication of how that will pan out.

Fernandez’s debut

Okay, Augusto Fernandez’s race debut will not be until the end of the month at the Portuguese Round itself, but the Spanish rider will get his first taste of the WorldSBK-spec Yamaha YZF-R1 at this weekend’s test.

He’s replacing Jonathan Rea, who remains injured after his testing crash in Australia and whose return to racing is yet to be scheduled, and Fernandez has in this fill-in opportunity the chance to prove himself in a different championship to that which he has raced before, albeit on machinery which is perhaps no more competitive than the KTM he rode last year in MotoGP.

The chance to prove himself is obviously more relevant to the race than this week’s test, but the reality of pre-event tests is that they form some part of the race weekend itself, anyway, because everyone is understanding their bike and making progress in terms of setup.

Fernandez’s lack of experience in production racing means that he will be learning more than anyone else at this weekend’s test, and that’s why it’s going to be fascinating to see how he develops in terms of lap time, and how he stacks up against the other Yamaha riders, especially GRT’s Remy Gardner (a fellow Moto2 World Champion) and his temporary teammate Andrea Locatelli, who was Yamaha’s best performer in Australia.