Razgatlioglu labels Bautista the favourite: ‘He’ll ride alone like Catalunya'

Toprak Razgatlioglu is gunning for another perfect weekend in Phillip Island after completing his second hat-trick of the season in Mandalika, however, the 2021 WorldSBK champion has labelled Alvaro Bautista the heavy favourite.

Robert Jones

17 Nov 2022

Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha World Superbike Mandalika

Razgatlioglu, who will be returning to the #54 this weekend after losing the world title to Bautista, wants to finish the season off in style but expects Ducati to hold the advantage due to its top speed.

The start-finish straight is where Bautista and Ducati should hold a significant pace advantage, although Razgatlioglu and the Yamaha have gone well at Phillip Island before.

The Turkish star won the opening race of the 2020 season before finishing second in the Superpole Race.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s action, Razgatlioglu said: "I’m happy to come back to Australia and Phillip Island; I have good memories of this track, back in 2020 on my Yamaha debut when we won!

"This year will be very difficult as Alvaro will be very strong and also Jonny. I remember in 2019, Alvaro was very strong with Ducati, but we’ll see as this year is different and we’ll fight with him.

"When we start on Friday, we’ll check the tyres as we have two new ones this weekend. Last weekend was unbelievable for me, to win everything; we’re very strong at Mandalika but this circuit will be more difficult, because we need to manage the rear tyre through the race.

"Maybe, the new Pirelli tyres are better than before and the feeling will be better, so we can fight with Alvaro. With the weather, it looks like it could rain, but it also looks like more fighting with Alvaro and Jonny!

"It’s been a good season and I’m very happy. In the second half of the season, we came back very strong, we improved the bike, and I also improved my riding. For 2023, I’ve already started training and we’ll quickly start working for next year."

Toprak Razgatlioglu, Race 1, Indonesian WorldSBK. 12 November

While Razgatlioglu is hoping to continue his season-long fight with Bautista, the Pata Yamaha rider is under no illusions that the Spaniard is the favourite going into the season-finale.

Like Razgatlioglu, Bautista has also enjoyed success at Phillip Island as he won all three races in 2019.

Expecting Bautista to be as tough to beat as he was in Catalunya - the former MotoGP rider completed a hat-trick at that round - Razgatlioglu added: "You know, I'll say this once again: I need three wins because it's my last chance. I think he'll ride alone like at Catalunya. “But anyway, we'll keep fighting."