‘One of the toughest rivals’ - Bautista compares Toprak to Rossi and Marquez

Alvaro Bautista has added Toprak Razgatlioglu to the list of ‘toughest rivals’ he’s ever faced following their battles at the Portimao WorldSBK round.

Robert Jones

04 Oct 2023

Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Portimao 2023

Bautista came out victorious in all three races at the Portimao round, however, Razgatlioglu was arguably the star of the show after managing to fight the soon-to-be double WorldSBK champion.

At a circuit where Bautista and Ducati had a clear advantage, Bautista rode two sensational races on Sunday to take the fight to the line.

Both times Razgatlioglu was pipped coming out of the final corner, but it’s clear that Razgatlioglu was riding well beyond the capabilities of his Yamaha.

Speaking about the battle with Toprak, Bautista said: "Basically, Toprak had nothing to lose and he tried everything. Sometimes when I was behind, I tried for a couple of laps to not stay so close to him to cool down the front tyre.

"When you are too close, especially in the flowing section, the temperature comes up and you lose a bit of performance, so I wanted some space.

"I tried to close the doors a lot but he always put the bike inside! It's normal, I expected this from him.

"It was great because we saw a Toprak without anything more than that. He did his best in every moment and many times, I thought ‘shit, if he crashes, I'll go down with him’.

"He entered on the limit and almost every time, I had to pick the bike up otherwise we'd touch. I enjoyed it; I didn't just stay in second until the end or try and get points for the title.

"I wanted to fight with him and beat him. It was like a normal race, not a race that can decide a lot of things."

In terms of rivals, Bautista has competed against the very best riders of all-time in MotoGP, such as Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

But the Ducati rider was quick to put Razgatlioglu amongst the very best: "I have had many, many riders. Marco Simoncelli, Valentino Rossi... maybe they weren’t all direct for the title but also with Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez.

"These bikes are different to MotoGP. It’s not easy to fight with him as he’s very aggressive and he can move the bike easily and make manoeuvres very on the limit whilst having a lot of control.

"Toprak is one of the toughest rivals I have fought with."