Toprak Razgatlioglu ready to try “Quartararo-style” set-up at Catalunya MotoGP

Toprak Razgatlioglu aims to try a Fabio Quartararo-style set-up on his Pramac Yamaha in Catalunya this weekend after the former MotoGP champion’s “fantastic” ride at Le Mans.

Quartararo completed the new V4’s best weekend yet in sixth place, 7.7s behind race winner Jorge Martin (Aprilia) and a massive 25 seconds from the next best M1 of team-mate Alex Rins.

Razgatlioglu took the chequered flag in the wheeltracks of Rins for his personal best grand prix result of 13th.

However, the size of the time gap to Quartararo was daunting.

“We learned many things in Le Mans and in Barcelona we want to use that experience and maybe even try some different setup directions because obviously Fabio‘s setup was working much better than ours,” Razgatlioglu said.

The reigning WorldSBK champion explained: “Fabio did an incredible job and we don't have the pace like Fabio. I'm just trying to understand why, because we need to improve the bike like Fabio.

“At the beginning of the race, with more grip and fuel, I'm not really riding good. But at the end, I'm riding much better,” he added. “But anyway, 32 seconds [from victory] is huge.

“I'm looking at Fabio because he's also riding the Yamaha. He did incredible job. He’s only 7-8 seconds. We are 32! Okay, I did a mistake and lost maybe 4-5 seconds. But 26-27 seconds is still a really big gap to Fabio, riding the same bike.

“It looks like he's found something, and he's riding very well.”

Turning is the main area where Razgatlioglu hopes a Quartararo-style set-up can be beneficial in Catalunya.

“We lose a lot of time turning, because I use a different setup than the others. But in Catalunya we will try a little bit like Fabio-style. 

“If I like it, then maybe keep. If I don't like, maybe we will find another setup.

“But we need to do a different setup for turning the bike, because in stopping we are close [to Quartararo], but when turning, we still lose.”

Unlike the other Yamaha riders, Razgatlioglu joined Quartararo in reverting to last year’s front wing at Le Mans.

“With the old one, I felt a little bit better to keep leaning on the brake. So I kept the same as Fabio,” he confirmed.

However, Razgatlioglu admits he’s not yet comfortable with the riding position needed in MotoGP.

“Still I'm sitting high. I feel the front is low. The feeling is strange because this is not my style, but I'm trying to adapt to this,” he said.

“I need to adapt because GP bikes are like this. Maybe next year after they change the rules, we can make a different seat for me.

“But this year I need to adapt like this.”

Unlike Le Mans, which was a brand-new challenge, Razgatlioglu has race winning WorldSBK experience around Catalunya.

“I have very good memories here from my victories in Superbike, so of course I hope I can start making good memories with Yamaha in MotoGP as well,” he said.

“But I know this is a very demanding track because you need to manage both the rear and the front tyre carefully throughout the race.

“As always, I will try my best again.”