Toprak Razgatlioglu finished fifth in the first race of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island. This marked the beginning of the Turkish rider’s journey with ROKiT BMW, as he fought for top positions on a challenging track for him. Initially crossing the line in fourth, a 1.225s penalty pushed him back to fifth.
The 2021 world champion analyzed the race in an interview with the championship’s official website: ‘The start was not bad. I stayed on the front and the feeling was good at the beginning of the race because we did 1m30s and then we started doing 1m29s. But we were riding 1m29s high. In the last laps I pushed harder and I was still riding with my bike, keeping the rear tyre, trying to save the tyre because this track is very demanding for the rear tyre – and especially with my bike I use a lot the rear tyre. We’ve made ten laps, but in the last two laps I was feeling the vibrations. Anyway we finished the race, in fifht’.
A penalty for an infraction in the pitlane prevented Razgatlioglu from securing fourth place: ‘I saw 0 on my dashboard and exit the pitlane immediatly. And also Alex [Lowes] passed me at the exit of the pitlane. But I didn’t take an advantage. Anyway I started fifth and I finished fifth. The fourth position is better than fifht, I hope we improve for tomorrow’.
Although the result fell short of his expectations, the Turkish rider acknowledged that he didn’t expect an easy race: ‘We did one race with BMW. I’m not happy with the fifht position, my target was the podium in the first race. But we understood, especially yesterday, that this wouldn’t be an easy race because after ten laps this tyre is destroyed. Maybe especially with my bike I use a lot the rear tyre, but it looks like it’s easier for the other bikes. Anyway, we have some race data, this is good, we are starting the work to improve. I hope we improve tomorrow and we make better races’.
When asked if he might have another chance to reach the podium tomorrow, Razgatlioglu replied: ‘I hope so, this is my target, the first podium – especially in Australia, because it’s not an easy track for me and for BMW. I hope we make a podium tomorrow’.