Toprak Razgatlioglu relieved to win first race with BMW: ‘This is a dream’

Toprak Razgatlioglu outsmarted the rest of the WorldSBK grid to claim his first win with BMW in Catalunya.

His first win ever at the Spanish circuit, Razgatlioglu was elated after catching and passing Nicolo Bulega on the final lap.

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“First I want to say thanks to my team because every day they do an unbelievable job,” began Razgatlioglu. They are working really hard. 

“Finally, we won the race. It was very important for me at this circuit because I never won here.

“This is my dream and to win in Catalunya is unbelievable. This race is a very hard race. I think at other race tracks we can fight a bit easier than here. In general I am really happy.”

While other riders pushed hard at different stages, namely Sam Lowes and Nicolo Bulega, Razgatlioglu held pace in reserve to be strong at the end.

And it paid off in a huge way as he caught Bulega at an alarming rate in the final few laps.

“My plan was, after two laps to ride quite slow,” added the BMW rider. “After I was just waiting for Bulega. The other riders were just pushing.

“I saw Sam Lowes and he was just pushing. I understood his tyres after eight laps, ten laps would have a big drop but he crashed.

“After Bulega passed me I said ‘just follow him for two laps’, and after that I knew I was pushing a bit too hard for the rear tyre.

“I closed the gas a little bit and the podium was okay for me. I know this track and in the last five laps the rear tyre has a big drop.

“After ten laps I saw Iannone drop a bit early so I passed him immediately. And the last five or six laps I saw Bulega drop so I pushed hard.

“Especially on the brakes because the rear tyre was dropping but I pushed in braking.

“On the last lap I passed him but in the last two sectors he was not really fast. He was slow in the right corners. I’m really happy about this. This was a good strategy for me.”

Asked what it meant to win his first race with BMW, Razgatlioglu was relieved but also happy to do it in front of BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Flasch.

Razgatlioglu said: “The first race I had really big pressure. But after I was feeling like normal.

“The season just started and the first races with BMW; I was feeling a lot of pressure but here I am not feeling that much pressure but Markus Flasch is here so we needed to show something.

“Finally, the pole position and winning the race, this is unbelavable.”