Ducati’s year? Toprak Razgatlioglu: “They started having problems”

Toprak Razgatlioglu feared “Ducati’s year” after a dreadful Saturday in Assen before his luck changed.

BMW’s Razgatlioglu was four seconds behind his title rival Nicolo Bulega of Ducati, who won Race 1 in the World Superbike Championship round in the Netherlands.

“This is Ducati’s year,” the reigning champion bemoaned.

“Their package is good, the rules are good for them.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu: "It's because of the rules"

A day later, everything changed when Razgatlioglu stormed to Superpole victory in wet conditions while Bulega suffered mechanical issues.

Although Razgatlioglu was a drab eighth in Race 2 on Sunday, Bulega’s Ducati stopped again.

Ducati’s woes forced Razgatlioglu to rethink his “Ducati’s year” prediction.

“I remember that well,” he told GPOne.

“When I said that, Ducati started having problems.

“This is a sport where mechanics matter, and I feel really bad when a bike stops.

“It happened to Nicolo, like me at Phillip Island.”

Bulega sits top of the WorldSBK standings after a quarter of the season. Razgatlioglu is second, 19 points behind.

“Bulega was really great, he could have won Race 2,” the defending champion whose WorldSBK future is in question admitted.

“I just tried to do my best. I have nothing to say to my team. If this is our potential, it’s because of the rules.

“This is all I can do with the current rules. If they change the rules, I think something might change for us too.

“The feeling is completely different to a year ago.”