Toprak Razgatlioglu returns with "special gloves" to help his damaged finger

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s preseason finger injury has the potential to have effects stretching into the WorldSBK season.

The Turkish rider injured his index finger while enduro riding earlier in January and was forced to miss last week’s opening WorldSBK test of the year.

He has gone to Portimao this week to take part in the two-day test at the Algarve venue, but still with lingering effects of the injury.

Razgatlioglu revealed the use of two different “special gloves” to prevent further damage. 

“One glove is for two fingers together for braking, one is like normal just one finger is big," he said.

His plan for the remainder of the off-season after this week’s test (which concludes on 29 January) is to return to Turkey and undergo physio work.

“The physio is Istanbul, I live in Sakarya,” he said.

“It’s 130km every day I go to Istanbul! It’s for my finger and it’s a very important finger, the braking finger.”

“It’s not bad, getting better every day but a little slowly,” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com in Portimao.

“After the big injury, I had an operation only 20 or 21 days ago, but it’s still new.”

Razgatlioglu added that his main focus is being close to full fitness at Phillip Island for the opening round.

“The doctors say after three months, you’ll be feeling like normal, but my biggest target at Phillip Island is to move my feeling almost 90 per cent, because this is very important,” he said.

The Turkish rider emphasised the importance of riding in the Algarve this week in order to understand the new specification of BMW M1000 RR that has been introduced for 2025.

“I need to ride the bike because I need to try the new bike and we need to improve,” he said.

“In general, I’m very happy to come back to the circuit again. I’m still not 100% but I hope I’m feeling good on the bike and riding like real Toprak.

“The most important thing is how I’m feeling on the brakes because I’m always hard braking. We’ll see how it’s feeling with the broken finger.

“The team’s very happy when I come back, and I hope we start strongly.”

He added: “Before Phillip Island, this is the last test. I need to ride the bike to understand the balance as it’s a new bike.

“Mickey’s [Michael van der Mark] also riding the new bike, but I need to ride, the team are also waiting for my comments.

“I hope I’m not feeling any pain on the bike. This is good as we’ll start the test on the bike, and this is important for me to find some setup maybe or improve for Phillip Island.

“I just need to understand the bike because my finger still isn’t 100 per cent. I don’t need to crash; this is the important thing.”