Toprak Razgatlioglu: 'Tomorrow I will fight again'

Toprak Razgatlioglu salvaged a podium finish from eighth on the grid in the opening WorldSBK race at a Navarra in Spain.

An opening lap charge quickly put the Yamaha rider into fourth place behind team-mate Andrea Locatelli, but it took the Turkish star until lap 7 to finally pass the Italian.

But that time the intense heat meant Razgatlioglu's front tyre already felt like it was fried, leading to plenty of tense moments,

Nonetheless, Razgatlioglu held on to the finally podium place and limited the championship damage to four points at the hands of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), who finished second to Scott Redding (Ducati).

“The race was not easy for me because of the very hot conditions, but it was the same for everybody," Razlan Razali said. "After five laps the feeling was like the front tyre was destroyed, there was a very early drop in performance, and every corner I feel like I nearly crash but I try my best.

"We are happy because again we arrive on the podium and take good points for the championship – but this is not enough for me. Tomorrow I want to try to win. Johnny and Scott were very fast today, but in the second lap I lost time with a big mistake with a missed shift so they got away.

"After I try again to catch but we did not have enough for second or first position because they were very fast. Tomorrow I will fight again – it is not easy in the heat, especially with the tyres, but we will see.”

Team Principal Paul Denning said: “Ultimately Toprak’s grid position cost him the opportunity to fight with Jonathan.

"The rhythm was there after he made some excellent passes in the early laps, but by then, we’d given away too much ground. A solid performance though and an important result."

Razgatlioglu heads into Sunday's races seven points behind Rea in the standings.