Toprak Razgatlioglu “thinking about winning” on Aragon World Superbike return

Toprak Razgatlioglu returns to WorldSBK this weekend and is already targeting maximum points.

The Turkish rider had a 13-race win streak when he crashed during practice for the French Round at Magny-Cours three weeks ago, which put him out of action in both France and the following Italian Round.

In his absence, Razgatlioglu has watched a 92-point championship lead be cut by Nicolo Bulega down to 13 points.

“It’s not been an easy four weeks,” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com on Thursday ahead of his Aragon return. “I watched the races and I tried to come back quicker.”

Switching focus to Aragon, Razgatlioglu admitted that his medical assessment to be passed fit to ride on Thursday at MotorLand had been difficult to deal with.

“Today wasn’t easy,” he said. “I was waiting and I was feeling some stress; it looks like I was more stressed than 2021 when I was fighting for the title.”

Razgatlioglu explained that, while he feels his body is fully recovered from his injuries, the time away from the bike could have an effect on his performance this weekend.

“It’s not possible for me to say I’m 100 per cent ready because it’s been four weeks without riding a bike or training,” he said.

“My body is 100 per cent. I hope the feeling is good immediately.

“Normally, I do some training every day but this time it’s been difficult, and I jump directly on the bike.

“Motivation is very high now because I’m fit.”

Razgatlioglu went on to explain the crash that caused the injuries in Magny-Cours, admitting he was to blame for pushing too hard.

“I think the crash is 100 per cent my mistake because I saw I was on for a very good lap time,” he said. “I tried to brake later, and I use a lot of front braking. I lost the front tyre.

“I started walking, and I understood there was nothing broken; the lung had a problem.

“I was feeling okay, with some pain and it wasn’t easy to take a breath.”

Focusing on Aragon, Razgatlioglu comes to a circuit at which he has never won in WorldSBK.

“This track isn’t easy for me,” the Turkish rider admitted. “With the BMW, we’ve won at many new tracks, [so] why not?

“I’m thinking about winning this race. I know it’s not easy because of the new surface. We need a good setup.

“My target is to win, I’m fighting for the podium. I need to win here because I’ve never won here in WorldSBK.”

Razgatlioglu has been declared fit to ride in FP1 at Aragon, but will require a further assessment after the opening practice of the weekend to continue participating at the Spanish venue.