“Not like a real time attack”: Toprak Razgatlioglu explains MotoGP qualifying struggles

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s first season in MotoGP has had its highlights and low points, but a continuing area where he is outstandingly weak is qualifying, which he thinks is down to a difficulty he finds in changing his riding style.

Razgatlioglu was once again Yamaha’s leading rider in the Czech MotoGP Sprint, finishing 11th and two places ahead of Fabio Quartararo, who struggled at the start.

But the Pramac Yamaha rider was second-last in qualifying, a big difference compared to his performance in the race.

“The qualifying is always very bad for me, you know,” Toprak Razgatlioglu explained after the Sprint in Brno.

“I’m riding in the time attack like a race style, not like a real time attack. This is the problem.

“In the race, especially before the race, I accept like this performance because I know myself, in the race I’m easily managing the rear tyre, the grip, stop the bike. I know because I’m already riding always like this [race style]. 

“Only in the time attack I’m not easy to change the riding style, but we will see maybe the next race and the next race, I don’t know.”

Although the pace was better in the Sprint than in qualifying, Razgatlioglu still wants to make improvements for Sunday.

“In the race the pace is not so bad, but if I feel the bike a little bit better turning, maybe we keep 1m53s in this lap time, this is a good lap time I think,” he said.

“But we stay 1m54.0s. I did also the last lap this lap time, but we need to stay many laps 1m53s, this is the important one, but I need a little bit better turning bike. 

“This is the key I think.”

On mid-corner performance, Razgatlioglu also said: “We are not so far, but we need to improve something, especially the turning. I'm not really happy with the turning because the bike is not turning, I lose a lot in the corner, I wait a lot for the acceleration. 

“If we improve this one for tomorrow, I think we make a really big step for the long race, because not everyone used the medium [compound rear tyre]. 

“Many people used the soft, but the long race I think everyone use the medium. 

“Medium is a little bit different. Okay. the front group is another level now, but we will see tomorrow. 

“If we improve something I think we will make a really big step in the race. This is my target now.”

The poor turning performance leading to increased tyre wear that was not such an issue in the 10-lap Sprint, but could be more problematic in the 20-lap grand prix.

“I try everything, but it [turning performance] doesn’t change,” Razgatlioglu said.

“I try everything, but I automatically touch the throttle very early, I start spinning a lot, but I just use the rear tyre, but this is not good for the long race especially. 

“I hope tomorrow we improve, this is the biggest problem now this weekend, because on the brake I’m stopping good, but turning, less. This is the biggest problem.”