Toprak Razgatlioglu (20th/Yamaha) is puzzled: what caused his tyre to fail?

The Silverstone round presents a particular challenge for Toprak Razgatlioglu, as the Superbike World Championship has only been held at Donington Park during the 29-year-old’s career (between 2018 and 2025). The three-time Superbike World Champion’s lack of track knowledge was evident as he finished 23rd – and therefore last – in FP1.

Although the Pramac Yamaha rider improved in every session, he could not manage better than 22nd place in qualifying with a time of 1:58.590 – the Turkish rider was 1.2 seconds short of making it through to Q2. In the sprint race, Razgatlioglu crossed the finish line in 20th place thanks to the retirements of Raul Fernandez (Aprilia), Cal Crutchlow (Honda) and Iker Lecuona (Ducati).

The late-braker from Alanya finished a full 34 seconds behind winner Jorge Martin (Aprilia). However, such a large gap cannot be explained by a lack of track knowledge alone!

“I’m a bit surprised – things weren’t going too badly at the start. However, I had a few problems with cornering because we used a different set-up for the race. I could tell straight away that I didn’t like it,” said Toprak. “But I hadn’t expected the tyre to wear out so quickly. That was very strange. We’d tried a soft tyre this morning and I had quite a bit of wheel spin – but that was nothing compared to how it felt in the race.”

It got worse with every lap.

Toprak Razgatlioglu

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MotoGP star Marc Márquez (Ducati), who finished ninth, had a similar problem. “It started after two laps and that was fine by me because I’d expected it. But another four laps later, it was all over,” explained Razgatlioglu. “I could barely turn in anymore, nearly lost the rear tyre several times in the process, and could hardly get the bike on its side. On my final lap, I only managed a 2:04! It got worse with every lap. Everyone was struggling with tyres that were wearing out, but in my case it wasn’t normal. Without these problems, I might have been able to finish behind Alex, but that would certainly have been the best I could have done. I still don’t understand how this could have happened. I’ve analysed the data with my crew chief.”

For the record: after lap 5, Toprak still had three riders behind him – Pol Espargaro (KTM), Augusto Fernández (Yamaha) and Cal Crutchlow (Honda).

The Yamaha rider is hoping for a second chance in Sunday’s long race. To that end, he also wants to work on his riding style. “We’ll see if we can find something for Sunday. Our set-up isn’t quite right yet,” says Razgatlioglu. “I’m also looking at Jack and Fabio’s data. They’re quicker through the corners and I’m trying to do the same, but I can’t find the right set-up and I’m struggling to get into a rhythm at all. My riding style is different, mind you, but I’m working on it.”