Toprak Razgatlioglu lauds “best Friday this year” after topping both Czech WorldSBK practices

After getting beaten in all three races at Cremona by Nicolo Bulega, reigning World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu was able to respond on Friday at the Czech WorldSBK by topping both practices.

The morning session has been complicated by four red flags that interrupted the session – including one for Bulega that left him with two contusions – but FP2 had been green throughout, and Razgatlioglu was able to not only top the session by over 0.2 seconds, but also show impressive race pace that stayed firmly in the 1:31s throughout.

“It was my best Friday, I think, this year,” Razgatlioglu summarised when speaking to WorldSBK.com after FP2 in Most.

“I’m really happy because the bike is not so bad, we have a good setup now.

“We did a good lap time and we did a race simulation – almost 20 laps – and it looks like almost every lap [was in the 1:31s], this is a very strong lap time. It looks like we are ready to race.”

In previous races, most notably Assen, Razgatlioglu has struggled compared to the likes of the aforementioned Bulega for tyre life.

Razgatlioglu explained that the harder tyre allocation brought to Most by Pirelli had been a factor in his better-looking race pace in the Czech Republic compared to Assen and Cremona.

“Assen was completely different because the track style is completely different, also the setup is completely different, the tyre is completely different,” he said.

“Here, almost everyone uses the same tyre because it’s the SC1 rear tyre, the hard compound, and like this it’s no problem because [it’s an easy choice for everyone] because it’s the SC1.”

While his race simulation was strong, Razgatlioglu was wary of the weather. Rain had come and gone on Friday, and it is not out of the question that it could impact Saturday and Sunday, too.

“The lap time is good, an impressive lap time, but the race is always different,” Razgatlioglu said.

“In the race, you need to save the rear tyre, and in the last laps you need more grip. This is very difficult.

“We are working like a ‘race style’, and it looks like we are strong, but we don’t know tomorrow the weather – it looks like maybe [it will] rain. Anyway, we are ready to race and I need to win, I really miss P1.”

On the prospect of rain on Saturday, Razgatlioglu added: “Tomorrow we have qualifying, and the weather is a little bit strange, but this is not just for me – if it rains, everyone is riding in the wet conditions, if there’s no rain everyone is riding like today.”