Razgatlioglu in no mood to celebrate win, ‘waiting for good news’ on Steeman
Steeman suffered a big accident during Saturday’s WorldSSP300 race and as a result was transported to Faro Hospital after medical checks confirmed polytrauma and a head injury for the young Dutchman. After a lengthy delay of over an hour, the first WorldSBK race of the weekend got underway with a revised lap count of 14 instead of the initial 20 that was scheduled.
Winner of race one a year ago at Portimao, Razgatlioglu took his second victory in as many seasons around the Algarve International Circuit after getting the better of Jonathan Rea following their early battle.
Speaking to WorldSBK reporters in parc ferme, Razgatlioglu said: "First, I say that this weekend we started very strong and we are here [podium] again! Thanks to my team because they did a very good job.
"But today I’m not really happy because the 300 rider Steeman had a big crash today and we are waiting for good news.
"We are here and it is good because we take good points for the championship. We will see [what happens] tomorrow."
Alvaro Bautista felt Portimao WorldSBK victory was possible without shortened race
Traditionally a rider who gets stronger as the race goes on, Bautista again proved that to be the case as he ended race one as the fastest rider on track.
While it’s clear that Bautista could have challenged Razgatlioglu had another six laps taken place - the championship leader finished six tenths down on the Yamaha rider - mistakes at turn one arguably played a bigger role in costing him victory.
Bautista lost time battling Axel Bassani after failing to make his first overtake stick, before doing the same at turn one when getting through on Rea.
Unlike with Bassani, Bautista had to spend an entire lap behind Rea after failing to secure second spot at the first time of asking, thus leading to chunks of time being lost.
"Yeah I think I missed [out on victory without] the last six laps. Without the race being a bit shorter maybe I can be stronger, but in any case the race for everybody," Bautista told WorldSBK.com in parc ferme.
"I did a really bad start and I lost some positions and some gap. Then I started to battle with Bassani. It was a fun battle and when I was third I saw that maybe my pace was to maybe catch Toprak and Jonathan, but Toprak had something more.
"When I passed Jonathan the first time I made a mistake in the corner one and I went long and lost all the chance to catch Toprak.
"But in any case I’m happy because we knew this track was very good for Toprak and Jonathan and when the race is shorter it’s even worse. I’m happy with the result and the feeling with the bike."
