Toprak Razgatlioglu says ‘we can fight for the podium every race’ if rear grip issues get ironed out
After another impressive day at the Jerez test, the 2021 world champion feels as though BMW are getting closer to where they need to be.
But that doesn’t mean they're ready to battle for WorldSBK wins, as Toprak Razgatlioglu admits rear grip issues are the biggest thing holding back BMW at the moment.
Razgatlioglu finished fourth on day two of the Jerez test, one place behind fellow BMW rider Scott Redding.
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Razgatlioglu was third for much of the day, the same position he finished in on day one, before the Bonovo Action BMW rider narrowly jumped ahead of him with 15 minutes remaining.
But Razgatlioglu, who made it clear that BMW needs to focus on testing everything at their disposal, and not spending parts of the test disturbing one-another as was the case with team-mate Michael Van Der Mark late on, was very happy with how the Jerez test played out.
Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com: “We made big improvements and we tried many new parts. Sometimes it was positive and sometimes not good.
“But still, we are working because we need to improve the bike and I need to understand the bike. Every lap I understand the bike character. I’m happy. It is not bad.
“We saw 1m 38s, many 38s and many 39s, so it was a very positive test. Also with the race tyre we are really strong.
“With the Q tyre we still need to learn. But in general it is good. The last run with Mikey and Scott, he tried to follow me but I was fighting with Mikey.
“This is really strange because it is not a race weekend. This is just a test. In the last run Mikey followed me and made a good lap time, finally. But again, this is not a race weekend. This is just a test. You don’t need more stress.
“But I’m happy in general. We improved entry to the corner. I am more happy with the bike. But we are still working on rear grip. The rear grip is not fantastic.”
Razgatlioglu then pointed at rear grip being the main issue, so if that area of concern can get ironed out, then fighting at the front will be possible every weekend, in his mind.
“My biggest problem is at full lean and acceleration,” added the Turkish star. “The acceleration is not bad but we need to improve. But with full lean we need more grip.
“We are working a lot for the grip, but we are not far. If we improve the rear grip then every race weekend we can fight for the podium. Everything is a step-by-step process.”
