Toprak Razgatlioglu on pit stop confusion: ‘I did not gain an advantage’
A first podium with BMW went begging for Toprak Razgatlioglu in Race 1 of the WorldSBK championship, despite a great pit stop.
As was the case with six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea, issues in the pits can cost a rider dearly if they are not a smooth process, as Toprak Razgatlioglu found out.
But that’s exactly what Razgatlioglu and BMW managed to avoid as they produced one of the best pit stops of the day.
Yet, Razgatlioglu gained no positions and instead received a penalty for leaving too quickly.
However, Razgatlioglu said his dashboard was at the right time limit for him to exit, which is why he held back initially.
But Razgatlioglu was given a 1.2 second time penalty for appearing to make up a very small amount of ground on the riders ahead.
Speaking about his first race with BMW, Razgatlioglu said: “We started the race not so bad. I stayed at the front and the feeling was good.
“We did 1m 30s and then 29s, but we are just riding in the 1m 29s-high. In the last few laps I was still riding my bike, keeping the rear tyre because this track is very hard on the rear tyre.
“I use a lot the rear tyre with my bike and we made ten laps but the last two I was feeling vibration. We finished the race in fifth position, normally it would have been fourth, but I received a penalty.
“It was strange. I saw my board and it said zero so I exited pit lane. Alex passed me to exit the pit lane and I did not gain an advantage.
“I started fifth and finished fifth but I hope we improve tomorrow.”
On the subject of his pit stop, Razgatlioglu was left confused as to why he received a penalty and blamed a potential gps issue.
“We had the perfect pit stop but it was the exit,” added Razgatlioglu when speaking to WorldSBK.com. “It looks like my team said I exited a bit early but I saw my dashboard and it said zero. I don’t know.
“Maybe there was some gps problem or maybe I exited early. Anyway, this is good for me to do my first race with BMW.
“I’m not happy with fifth or fourth position, my target was the podium, but I understand that this is not an easy race.
“Ten laps on these tyres and they were destroyed. Maybe it’s especially my bike because I use the rear tyre a lot but other bikes looked easier [to ride].
“We have some data which is good and hopefully we can improve tomorrow.”
