Toprak Razgatlioglu facing MotoGP-first after Indonesia practice

Toprak Razgatlioglu believes his rookie-season goal of a MotoGP top ten could be within reach after a promising start to the Indonesian Grand Prix.

Returning to the scene of past WorldSBK glory, the Pramac Yamaha rider enjoyed his strongest Friday for four rounds.

Razgatlioglu was 15th of 22 riders in FP1, then 16th in afternoon Practice, finishing 0.4s from the top ten and 1.4s behind Aprilia leader Raul Fernandez.

However, he felt a late yellow flag cost him the chance to finish two places higher and identified the fast second sector as the standout area to improve, losing almost half a second.

“I lose everything in sector two"

“Much better than last four rounds,” Razgatlioglu said of his day.

“I also improved my lap time in the end, but in the last sector there was a yellow flag, and I closed the throttle, so maybe we could see a 1m 29.9. Anyway, still not in the top 10.

“I lose everything in sector two, which is like three long corners.

“But if I improve there, I think we are easily doing 1m 29s.

“Tomorrow is a very important day because in qualifying I need to do some special lap times. This is my biggest target [tomorrow] because I need a good position to start.”

Top 10 target "very close now"

If Razgatlioglu can qualify well, he believes his season-long goal of a MotoGP top-ten finish is realistic in the grand prix.

“If I start more at the front, it's possible to finish, I hope top 10. Still I have this target. It looks like we are very close now.

“If we improve the sector two, I will make a big step. We'll see. If we improve there, I will also use the rear tyre less. This is also good for the race.”

Yamaha’s improved Mandalika potential was underlined by Fabio Quartararo securing direct Q2 access in seventh, with Alex Rins 11th and Razgatlioglu’s Pramac team-mate Jack Miller 12th.