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Only 5 points separate Toprak Razgatlioglu from Nicolò Bulega after the first race of the year. The Turkish ace managed to limit the damage despite the difficulties encountered in this start of the championship and turn the second place on the grid into a place of honor, which seemed almost a mirage at the end of Friday.
"I am a racer: I never give up, I always fight. However, at the beginning of the race I wasn't fast, I couldn't find the rhythm - admitted the BMW rider, talking about his race - I felt much better when I started again after the tyre change, because I was better with the rear of the bike, I felt I had more grip, the bike started to insert itself in the corners and we also changed the suspension set-up. In the second part of the race I found the rhythm, but in the last laps, the rear tyre was moving a lot, with the heat the tyres started to drop, the bike was moving and it was not easy to make it corner. I saw Alvaro getting closer, so I pushed again on the last passage, lapping in 1'30"3. That's not bad, but I'm on the limit."
The flag-to-flag so much criticized by much of the field was providential for Razgatlioglu, who would have had big problems running a race of 20 consecutive laps.
"Yes, but I think that would have been the case for everyone, because only Bulega is very strong," he noted, "Maybe Alvaro would have been fast too if the race had been long, but the other riders are all very similar. But in terms of safety, it's better to change tyres."
The defending champion may have made the most out of Race 1, but he no longer has the margin he had a year ago.
"Why do I say the bike is not working? Because we are not as fast as last year. We are slower. If I felt the way I felt with last year's bike, maybe it would have been easier to follow Bulega in the race. Maybe I would have fought with him and finished second anyway, but I wouldn't have had to fight with the other riders. Now I'm riding and pushing to the limit, losing the front and rear. I'm trying to find the rhythm, but it's not easy to ride this bike," he explained, "I don't have the margin of 2024 anymore? No. I have nothing in my pocket: I'm using everything."
The 28-year-old knows what it means to be on the limit after his years at Yamaha, but the situation he is going through now seems quite different from what he experienced riding the R1.
"At Phillip Island there are no slow corners. I can't explain it, because with the Yamaha I was always pushing hard under braking and using the whole bike, whereas now I need more calm. In these conditions I don't have any more, I just try to put the bike into the corners and look for grip. It's really difficult - he commented - If there were more corners with sharp braking I would show more of my potential: just two corners are not enough, although I'm not doing badly there."
Countering Bulega and the Ducati in these conditions will be a titanic task for the defending champion, who hopes for some improvement after the next test in Portimao.
"I need something new, because right now it is really strange. Maybe looking from the outside you can't tell, but on the bike everything is totally different. Even the data is totally different," he said, "This bike is not easy to ride. We did a great job in the race, but I didn't expect it - I'm surprised too. If Ducati improves a little bit tomorrow, I think I can be there, because the good thing is that tomorrow should be a little bit cooler and it's a little bit better for me, because I could maybe have some grip. We'll see, because the scenario will be the same for everyone."
Impossible to fight for the World Championship with this BMW?
"This is always a difficult track for me and right now I'm just trying to get the best possible position. Then we'll see how it goes in Europe. But at the moment, it is not easy for me to fight with Bulega. And I also say this to Dorna: I need my bike for you to see the fight. In this way, Bulega will continue to race alone. There is not a good balance. Something needs to be changed," was the response from Toprak, who fears that Nicolò will dominate the next races as well: "I also think about Europe because Bulega will be strong there as well. I think he will have that edge in Europe as well, because the first year he was very strong and this season, in which he is improving and learning, I think he will be even stronger."
In conclusion, the BMW rider gave an update on the condition of the finger he fractured last month in training: "It's strange, because I don't feel it: it's swelling, but in the race it wasn't bad. I had no pain, I only felt it if I move it. When I'm on the bike my left arm hurts, because in the corners I'm not relaxed. The bike struggles to corner and I open the throttle too late. The lap time doesn't come, I can't get into a rhythm easily. Everything has changed. Everything is destroyed."
