Toprak Razgatlioglu fumes after Australia WorldSBK practice: ‘The bike is not working’

Toprak Razgatlioglu says his BMW World Superbike "is not working" at Phillip Island after Friday practice.

The reigning world champion has already had a bruising week at Phillip Island having suffered a heavy highside on day one of testing.

In FP1 on Friday, he fell at Turn 4. He banged himself up, but walked away mostly unscathed, blaming a problem with the engine braking.

“My hand is ok because when I see I’m going to do gas with the bike I’m continue to jump the bike because hand and fingers are very important for me,” he told WorldSBK.com.

“We have three races here. But what happened: the engine brake released there, I don’t understand why and I lost the front immediately.

“We are still keeping working, trying to find some set-up for the race but it’s not easy because in the hot conditions this bike is not working.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu P3 in Australian WorldSBK FP1

Razgatlioglu was third fastest at the end of Friday’s practice, albeit 0.809s behind pacesetter Nicolo Bulega on the factory Ducati.

He added that the change in chassis for 2025 on the M1000RR has left him with “no turning, no stopping, no grip” and blamed WorldSBK’s regulations for splitting the field open.

“I’m not happy because bike is not working,” he said.

“I’m not fast like last year because last year’s I’m faster than this year, and bike is now not working.

“After they change the chassis, the bike is completely changed: not turning, not stopping, no grip, everything has changed.

“I’m not happy. I hope we find something to fight for the top five because it’s not possible to say top three - maybe the top five, because looks like it’s going very bad.

“After the new rules, I hope everyone is very happy, all the Ducati’s are on the front and it’s not possible that the brands are fighting. Also the BMWs are now getting worse.

“We know all the very Ducatis are strong here, for me the biggest problem is that we are not fast like last year, we are worse than last year, we are trying to find a way.

“It’s very strange because I don’t feel confident on the bike, I feel like I’m riding on ice, we’re trying everything and still not finding anything.

“I did two laps with Bulega, but he is so strong. I see him riding comfortably but I am really fighting on the bike.

“Normally I am not very strong here, I know, but this year compared to last year feels completely different. I don’t know, we will see this weekend, I will try to fight for the podium but how many laps I don’t know.”

With temperatures set to be hotter on Saturday, Razgatlioglu reckons “we will be worse tomorrow.

The temperature gets high, we are worse than in cold conditions. In cold conditions the bike is working a bit better but hot conditions, with this chassis, the bike is not working.”