Toprak Razgatlioglu pinpoints cause of “the bike isn’t turning” concern

The third WorldSBK race of the weekend saw Toprak Razgatlioglu seal his third victory of the weekend despite conditions he described as “difficult”.

Razgatlioglu’s win came over Nicolo Bulega, after Alvaro Bautista crashed out, and with Alex Lowes in a distant third place for Kawasaki.

Despite yet another WorldSBK success, it was not straightforward for the championship leader, especially because of the weather.

“This race for me is very difficult and not easy to ride the bike with the strong wind,” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com. “But I’m always fighting, and just the last sector I know I’m very slow because the bike isn’t turning in the last corner.”

The reason for the lack of turning was a lack of a left front wing, which Razgatlioglu had lost when he passed Lowes for the lead.

“On the straight, I don’t understand how I hit Alex but the wing broke on the left.” he said. “After, the bike wasn’t turning, especially in the last sector and in the last corner, I was losing almost 0.5s.”

The BMW rider explained that the area which became his major weakness after he lost the wing was also the major strong point of the bike he was fighting, the Ducati, at Portimao.

“The Ducati is very strong there [in the last sector] and I was really fighting in the last four or five laps, starting with Alvaro and then Nicolo,” Razgatlioglu said.

“In the last lap, I needed to give more than 100 per cent before the final sector so I made a plan and it worked. It’s been an incredible job this weekend and the feeling is unbelievable.”

It was yet another landmark win for Razgatlioglu. On Saturday, his Race 1 win had tied him with Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista for the record of consecutive wins on 11. In the Superpole Race, he took that record for himself with his 12th straight win, and the Race 2 victory saw him take his 54th win in total.

“This is the 13th win [in a row], and my 54th in total — this is good and I’m very happy. It’s been a very good weekend for me and for my team, and everyone is working very hard.”

Team principal of the factory BMW team told WorldSBK.com that he thinks Razgatlioglu can now get even faster, having achieved the record for consecutive wins. “I actually feel a little bit of pressure relieved from Toprak now,” he said, “he could get a bit quicker — didn’t think I’d say that!

“Unbelievable. What a performance, from the beginning of the year to where we are now. It’s been unbelievable.”.

Razgatlioglu now leads the standings by 92 points ahead of the aforementioned Bulega, whom he beat by 0.035 seconds in Race 2 at Portimao. The next round, round eight, is at Magny-Cours, the site of Razgatlioglu’s first ever WorldSBK win back in 2019.

“It’s one of my favourite circuits,” Razgatlioglu said, “but whether or not I’m good there with the BMW, I don’t know.”