Toprak Razgatlioglu ‘very close’ to Alvaro Bautista, unsure of beating Nicolo Bulega

Toprak Razgatlioglu was fastest during this morning’s WorldSBK FP2 session ahead of factory BMW team-mate Michael Van Der Mark.

But when it came to scorching conditions this afternoon, Ducati turned up the pace which resulted in every other manufacturer struggling to keep up. 

• Alvaro Bautista on Nicolo Bulega's pace: "It’s not, at the moment, a problem…" 

• Nicolo Bulega expects rivals to make a step ‘to try and catch me’

Razgatlioglu was again the main challenger, but Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista appeared to be stronger when it came to race pace.

“I was just focused on long runs in the afternoon because we need a really strong long run,” said Razgatlioglu. 

“But it looks like Ducati is really strong. In this track Ducati is always really strong but I’m trying to do my best. We are still working with the bike for the grip. 

“We did the long run but the first run I didn’t like [the tyres], so I came back in and we changed the tyres again. We used different tyres and we changed the set-up.

“I was happier with the second run, we did 13 laps and many were in the 41s and then in the 42s. Also, I was feeling some front tyre problems.

“Now the rear grip is better than before but now I’m just feeling the front tyre problem. I don’t understand because we improved on tyre but then we are again feeling some problem with the other tyres. 

“But anyway, now it is not really bad and I’m happy. We will see in the race because everyone tries their best.

“I hope we are fighting Ducati but their pace is really strong. Maybe in the last two laps the tyre will drop for Ducati, we will see.”

Asked about his expectations for the races this weekend, Razgatlioglu is hoping to at least challenge one factory Ducati rider.

And it’s not the name you would have expected as he pinpointed Bautista and not Bulega.

“With Alvaro I’m very close,” said Razgatlioglu about the pair’s race pace. “But with Nicolo I don’t know. I don’t know how many laps he did. 

“But Nicolo is a little bit faster than me but maybe in the race when I follow him, I don’t know for how many laps because the race is 20 laps and ten laps is easy, but 20 laps, you have to save the rear tyre. 

“Tomorrow we need to improve the set-up and improve the bike more at this track especially. I need a good result here because this track is very difficult to ride for everyone.

“If I make good results here we can be stronger because there are some good trucks coming up and you don’t need to save as much the rear tyre.”