Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha): Only one rival crossed the finish line after him

In none of his 78 victories in the Superbike World Championship did Toprak Razgatlioglu ride the best bike. Not even when he became world champion twice with Yamaha and once with BMW. To a certain extent, he was able to make up for what his bikes lacked with his boundless talent.

He could not have set himself a tougher challenge for his first season in MotoGP than the one he has taken on by signing for Yamaha. After all, the M1 is still no match for the competition: former world champion Fabio Quartararo, the best-placed of Yamaha’s quartet of regular riders, finished 12th in the British Grand Prix, almost 27 seconds behind winner Raúl Fernández of the Trackhouse Aprilia team. Because the Frenchman was handed a 20-second penalty several hours after the race due to incorrect tyre pressure, Jack Miller suddenly found himself in 12th place and the top Yamaha rider – 29.4 seconds behind the fastest rider. His Pramac team-mate Toprak, finishing 14th, was over 40 seconds off the pace.

A better placing than the reality

Only one rider saw the chequered flag after Razgatlioglu: Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernández, who was competing on a wildcard. Of the seven riders who crashed, only 40-year-old Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) finished behind Toprak – so his position is significantly better than it would have been in reality.

Toprak is trying not to let it get him down mentally and is grasping at any straw. “It was better than on Saturday, but we’ve got a lot to learn,” said the 29-year-old, summing up his weekend in Northamptonshire. “This track has long, sweeping corners, so I need to time it right when I straighten the bike out. I’m still finding that very difficult; I’m riding too much like I would on a Superbike. That works on some tracks, where I’m much better. But I need to learn this style because I’ll be racing on this track again next year. My race was poor – but I’m focusing on what I learnt over the weekend. That’s important and will help me next year, even if everything will be different again then. With the Pirelli tyres, I’ll probably need to adopt a mix of riding styles. Based on what I’ve learnt, I’ve got a slightly positive feeling about it; let’s see if that helps me in Aragon. That’s another tricky track for my riding style. I’ve had a few good races there on the Superbike, so let’s see how it goes on the MotoGP bike.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Silverstone

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Fans

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Raúl Fernández

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Jorge Martin

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Start des Rennens

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Start des Rennens

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Alex Márquez und Pedro Acosta

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Jorge Martin

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Luca Marini

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Marc und Alex Márquez

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Raúl Fernández

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Marc Márquez und Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Moreira und Quartararo

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Raúl Fernández gewinnt das Rennen

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Silverstone-Sieger Raúl Fernández

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Martin, Fernández, Bezzecchi

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Sieger Raúl Fernández

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Silverstone

© Gold & Goose

Toprak: “There are no bad circuits”

“It’s better if I don’t talk about ‘bad’ circuits,” emphasised Razgatlioglu. “I prefer to talk about circuits that require a different riding style. If you need a different style, and you’ve also got different tyres, that makes a big difference. When I start on Friday, I try to learn the track and adapt – at Silverstone I had to learn every corner. The other riders, on the other hand, can start thinking straight away about which tyres they’ll use. I have to think about sooo many things – that makes it very difficult for me. But never mind, I’m focusing on the positives.”

The three-time champion concluded: “My aim is to be able to keep up with the other Yamaha riders at Aragon. And I want to make it into the top 10 this year. Perhaps I can improve even more and manage to do that several times – that would make me happy. But it won’t be easy. I always try my best, but it’s very difficult. I love all the circuits; for me, there are no bad ones. But every rider has circuits where they’re stronger. I was very strong at Portimão on the Superbike – let’s see how I fare on the MotoGP bike. I hope I can achieve a special result there.”