Razgatlioglu claims Ducati has ‘too much power, but I’m not crying’
Despite holding off Bautista in race one and the Superpole race at Portimao, Razgatlioglu was seen losing huge amounts of time to the WorldSBK championship leader along the start-finish straight.
While it’s been a theme throughout the season, Bautista’s advantage on the straights appeared even larger than normal, with Razgatlioglu having to perform sensational overtakes from a long way back under braking just to remain in contention.
And although Razgatlioglu did this in fine style to win the Superpole race, which was arguably the best individual ride of the year by any rider, Razgatlioglu ultimately had no answer for Bautista’s speed in race two.
"I think the Superpole Race was one of my best races this year. We were fighting with Alvaro, and we were enjoying. He’s very fast in the straight but I tried to catch him,” Razgatlioglu told the media.
"My plan normally is to stay ahead of him, but in Race Two it wasn’t possible because it wasn’t easy. Now, we’ll work for Argentina as I know it won’t be an easy race. We will keep fighting; the Championship isn’t finished but I’m not looking at that."
Razgatlioglu wants more power from Yamaha
As Fabio Quartararo’s wish of receiving more power aboard his M1 looks to be coming for the 2023 MotoGP season, Razgatlioglu has found himself asking for similar improvements in WorldSBK.
After seeing Bautista gain around 0.5/0.6 tenths of a second on the one kilometre straight at Portimao, Razgatlioglu added: "The Yamaha in the corner is a very good bike, and I’m very happy. We just need the speed and power. Next year, we need power for fighting but I think the Ducati has too much. But I’m not crying, I keep riding and trying to win."
Razgatlioglu ‘something strange’, says WorldSBK team-mate Andrea Locatelli
Unable to get close to his team-mate throughout this season, Locatelli is keen to stay away from comparisons with Razgatlioglu as the Turkish star has an unrivaled ‘style’.
Talking about the performance of his team-mate at Portimao, Locatelli added: "I think Toprak is world champion, so he takes a lot more confidence, and when you want to win against him, they push more, and for him to beat Bautista, he has to try the same.
"The level is higher, the riders go faster and, in the end, we’re going really fast. I’d say that if my riding level from this year was put into last year, I could ride a lot closer and fight at the front.
"This year is very complicated as Kawasaki improved a lot, as have Ducati and sometimes, BMW and Honda are in the middle. I don’t want to compare with Toprak because he is something strange; he loses on the straight but recovered everything on braking. It’s his style.
"I need to try and improve this part, but I’m also braking not so bad, later than the other riders, but not like Toprak."
