Razgatlioglu: 'Sliders finished, I put my knee not to crash, front destroyed'

Second at a race track he dominated last season, Toprak Razgatlioglu was left confused by the lack of grip available after claiming his front tyre was ‘destroyed’ after just eight laps of the Mandalika WorldSBK Race 1.

Robert Jones

04 Mar 2023

Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha World Superbike Mandalika 2023

Razgatlioglu led the way early on after making a great start from pole, however, the Pata Yamaha rider had no response to WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista following the Spaniard’s overtake on lap five.

Bautista, who was also keen to not stress the front tyre during the early laps which meant a group of eight riders were in contention, pushed on the pace after taking the lead while Razgatlioglu struggled to follow.

Despite claiming his second pole of the season, Razgatlioglu cut a downbeat figure after Race 1: "For me I think not strong qualifying. Last year we did a better lap time but this year the track condition is also not good.

"In the race I am not starting to push in the first laps, I was just waiting, but after Alvaro [passed] me his pace was really good. I tried to catch him but front tyre grip dropped. I don’t understand this.

"I’m also surprised because in the early laps the front tyre dropped. I used the SC2 tyre and after eight or nine laps it started to drop so I just tried to finish the race with a good position.

"Corners five, six, seven I was always losing the front. It was not an easy race for me and I just try to do my best position."

Toprak Razgatlioglu , Indonesian WorldSBK, 3 March

When asked what made the biggest difference between last season’s races when he could fight against Bautista and even beat the Ducati rider at Mandalika compared to today’s race, Razgatlioglu had one reason only.

"Front tyre! My front tyre was destroyed," added Razgatlioglu. "It was just this. It was not possible to enter the corner and the bike was not turning.

"Especially sector two it was unbelievable. Why I said my sliders are finished is because I just put my knee down to not crash."

Razgatlioglu used the SC2 front tyre which is Pirelli’s hardest front tyre compound, while Bautista used the SC1, leaving the Yamaha rider even more confused as to why he suffered such a big drop but not Bautista.

Razgatlioglu added: "Bautista used the SC1 tyre which is more soft and the tyre looks like new. I used a harder tyre but it is destroyed.

"He’s also pushing a lot on the braking but I’m just surprised because he used SC1 tyre. It is strange. The tyre life looked like new."

Bautista wins again to keep 100% WorldSBK win record in 2023

Alvaro Bautista, race 1, Indonesian WorldSBK, 4 March

A circuit he, nor Ducati had ever won at, was expected to offer his rivals a chance of fighting back following his hat-trick in Phillip Island.

However, a calm, composed and very quick Bautista gave no such openings to the likes of Razgatlioglu.

And while he didn’t suffer from any tyre degradation, or at least not to the same extremes as others, front tyre conversation was prominent during his post-race debrief.

Bautista said: "It was important not to stress too much the tyre. If you stress too much then you cannot recover. In the first laps I saw; well I was lucky in the first corner because Rinaldi missed the brake point and was very close to touching me.

"When I was behind Toprak I didn’t want to stress the tyre. I tried to be very, very smooth and also on the rear. At the same time I saw him doing more or less the same, very smooth and not pushing like other times.

"I was calm and I thought he had the same approach as me in the race and we had a big group. I saw the lap times and I thought maybe I can increase a little bit the pace.

"Not too much but just a few tenths to don’t have a big group. I passed him, not easy, but under control and then increased the pace. The feeling with the bike was good, tyre consumption was good."

Explaining the differences between the SC1 and SC2 front tyres, Bautista stated that last season’s hardest tyre is now the softer of the two options, which is his preferred tyre.

"The soft of this season is that hard of last season," claimed the reigning world champion. "The hard of this season, every time I try, it is softer for me.

"For me, the SC2 is softer than the SC1. For me, for my bike, for my package I feel worse because it is softer. Pirelli say it is harder but maybe it is too hard. I cannot use it."