Toprak: Balaton MotoGP “my style of track” but “I don’t understand” first corner

Toprak Razgatlioglu enjoyed one of his strongest Fridays since joining MotoGP at Balaton Park, but narrowly missed out on direct Qualifying 2 access.

The Pramac Yamaha rider, who completed a clean sweep of WorldSBK victories at the Hungarian circuit last season, ended the opening practice session as the fastest Yamaha rider in tenth place.

A repeat of that performance in the afternoon would have secured automatic progression to Q2.

Instead, team-mate Jack Miller claimed the final top-ten place, edging out both Fabio Quartararo and Razgatlioglu.

“This is my style of track, but I still don’t understand the first sector, especially the first corner. I think they make a new surface,” Razgatlioglu said.

“There is no grip there, and I think everyone has the same problem because the front is locking on a straight brake.

“I try to adapt to this because still the Michelins are not easy on this track. The Pirellis are more easy to make a hard braking and to stop the bike.

“But anyway I tried to do my best. If I improved by two tenths then I would have stayed in the top ten.”

Michelin confirmed that Turn 1 has been resurfaced and is 'very slippery'.

Meanwhile, Razgatlioglu is still struggling with the change in balance caused by fitting a new soft rear tyre, costing him during time attacks.

“With medium tyres it is not so bad, but with the soft I still feel the rear pushing a lot and I feel less turning and stopping,” he explained.

The Turkish rider believes progress has nevertheless been made since Mugello, where Yamaha's weaknesses were heavily exposed by the circuit's long straights.

“Now it’s much better than Mugello but tomorrow we need to improve because I need a good lap time in Qualifying 1 to make Qualifying 2.”