Extra “home race” importance for Toprak Razgatlioglu Misano WorldSBK treble

A second hat-trick of the 2025 WorldSBK season came with added importance for Toprak Razgatlioglu at Misano because “it’s Ducati’s home race”.

The Turkish rider beat factory Ducati rider and current World Superbike points leader Nicolo Bulega in Race 1, then won again after Bulega crashed with Axel Bassani at the first corner of the Superpole Race.

The Sunday morning crash meant Bulega started 10th for Race 2, and by the time he’d reached second place Razgatlioglu was already five seconds ahead, and that gap grew to over nine seconds by the end of the 21 laps.

Toprak Razgatlioglu said afterwards that there was added importance in his wins at the Misano World Circuit because of its importance to Ducati, but also as a response to losing Race 2 at Most to Bulega.

“If we didn’t have an electronic problem in Most in the last corner, I think now we are more happy because we [would be] the championship leader,” Razgatlioglu reflected, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 2 in Misano.

“Also there I was pushing so hard.

“Especially for me here it’s very important because it’s Ducati’s home race, I need to win here, I’m just focused a lot on this circuit.

“Finally, we did it – this is an incredible feeling.

“This is also good because I’m getting more motivation for the other races because we have many races before the end.

“The gap now is very close. I’m just focused, before moving to MotoGP, on winning this title.”

Razgatlioglu said that he was also satisfied with the improvements made to his bike throughout the weekend.

“I’m really happy because this weekend I’m pushing so hard and my biggest target was to win these three races,” he said.

“The last race, especially, I feel the bike [was] much better because the team has improved step-by-step and all sessions we have improved the bike.

“I just took my rhythm and especially I did a very strong pace. I’m very happy.

“Last year I did three wins here and this year again we did it. I’m just looking forward to Donington.”