SBK, Razgatlioglu: “The Ducati are fast in the heat, but I’ll give it my all to win”

After calrifying his place on the starting grid of the next World Championship, Toprak Razgatlioglu arrived in Misano with only one goal in mind: to interrupt Alvaro Bautista’s streak of successes. A complicated but not impossible mission for Yamaha’s Turkish rider who confirmed being the first Ducati pursuer on this first test day at the Riviera track. 

First in the morning and fifth in the afternoon, the 26-year-old rider ended his Friday in 2nd place in the combined rankings, and he knows what he has to do to progress for tomorrow: “I did twenty laps, and that’s not bad, since it was very hot. Overall, I’m happy. We just have to solve some slight problems on the bike. We need to improve the engine brake, and I need to improve in some corners, to battle it out more easily with Alvaro in the race. We’re not very fast with the race pace, but we’re faster than the others,” Toprak said at the end of the FP2. “Alvaro is really fast, but the Ducati are always fast when it’s particularly hot.”

A few clouds in the sky above Misano would be a welcome thing for the Turkish rider, who would prefer a track that’s not as hot as the one he encountered this sunny June afternoon.

“Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit cooler. That would be good for me, since we’re having a bit of a spinning problem right now, because of the high temperatures. I hope we can improve a little tomorrow and fight to win. I’m focused on winning the race, and I’ll give it my all,” Razgatlioglu explained, satisfied with the grip on the Romagna circuit. 

“I’m riding one hundred percent. In Catalunya, I was riding at fifty, sixty of my potential to save the rear tire, while you don’t need to here. You can always push to the max. We just need it to be a little warmer,” he stressed. “I had a better pace in the tests than today, precisely because of the slightly lower temperatures, since there was about 40° C on the asphalt, while it was around 55° C today. You feel the difference on the bike, but I think we did a good job today. I hope to be even happier tomorrow.”