English
Italiano
The first day of the Superbike Round at Aragon, was the occasion for Toprak Razgatlioglu to finally return to his BMW, after the mild pneumothorax suffered in the frightful accident at Magny-Cours. It was a great comeback for the Turkish rider, who led the first practice session with a chrono that allowed him to end Friday in second place in the combined standings. Although he finished ninth in FP2 in which he worked in view of the race.
"How do I feel?I'm a little bit fatigued, especially my shoulder, but it's not bad. I haven't had any problems with compartment syndrome, which is good after three weeks, I just need to rest," Toprak said at the end of the day, reassuring on his physical condition and tightness in the continuation of the weekend, "Worried about the three races? I'm fine, I'm just a little tired, but I think tomorrow will be much better. It's not a problem."
Getting back in the saddle was no problem for the BMW rider, who was eager to get back on his M 1000 RR and did not seem to have any qualms about returning to action after the accident.
"I'm simply back in the saddle," he said, "This is a very dangerous sport, I know that motor sports are risky and I told the doctors as well that the sport I ride is dangerous, but I don't care: this is my life and I love riding motorcycles. I understand the doctors who told me last weekend that it was too risky to ride, but I have never been scared. I enjoy riding and yesterday was the first day after three weeks when I started to smile."
A smile that El Turco will surely have flashed even at the end of the first practice session.
"The best time in FP1? I mounted the new rear tire and also made some mistakes on that lap. Garrett was a little bit slow in the last corner and I had to close the throttle. Normally a 1'48" lap would have come, but I wasn't thinking about the time," he explained, "I just did one lap to figure out the tire. In FP2, I didn't push. I worked on race simulation to understand how the bike was doing after 10 laps, and now I know what we need to improve."
The championship leader then spoke more specifically about his work in the afternoon.
"I tried race simulation in FP2. I didn't push immediately in the first laps, I just tried to stay on the 1'49". I didn't have a big drop in the rear tire and that's a good thing, even though I usually expect more degradation," he recounted, "I felt I still had good grip after eight laps, but I lost the front because I had mounted the SC1 and destroyed it on the left side pushing with the high temperatures. I don't have any blockages here, but when I'm in the corner with the throttle open I feel the front moving and I can't corner. Especially in the last five laps. Tomorrow it looks like we will use the hard front tire and try to improve the setup, because the bike corners less and is not easy to stop. I hope we will make progress and resume fighting with Bautista and all the Ducatis. Because it seems that Alvaro is strong and I expected that, since he is always competitive on this circuit."
The race pace did not disappoint Razgatlioglu, although the Turk is convinced that there is work to be done to be able to fight with Bautista.
"This is the first time I've ridden the BMW here, because I haven't tested,so I would say the pace is very positive," he commented, "We lose two or three tenths a lap, sometimes five, compared to Alvaro, but by improving tomorrow I think it will be easier to lap like him. Maybe Alvaro will do a little bit better than me, but it looks like I will be able to fight with him in the race. Provided, however, that we make progress. If we don't improve, it won't be easy for me because it gets very tough after 10 laps."
Toprak will not back down in case of a battle: "I'm ready, it's not a problem. He is very strong here, because there are not many slow corners or in which to brake hard, but I will try to do my best."
But he doesn't seem entirely certain about which and how many opponents there might be:"Right now it seems like there are a lot of riders: Bautista, Bulega, Iannone and Alex Lowes.We'll see after 10 laps, though."
