Toprak Razgatlioglu unfazed by Nicolo Bulega French WorldSBK gap: “I focused on the race”

Despite finishing over 0.4 seconds behind his main title rival in FP2 at the French WorldSBK, Toprak Razgatlioglu was encouraged by his opening day’s work at Magny-Cours.

Nicolo Bulega was under the all-time World Superbike lap record on Friday afternoon at the French track while Razgatlioglu was down in fourth place.

The BMW rider explained that this margin was simply down to him not using a fresh tyre at the end of the afternoon practice.

“Bulega did a very good lap time, but I didn’t use a new tyre,” Toprak Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com after FP2 in France.

“I used only one tyre in FP2 because I was focused on the race not the lap time.

“It’s very important for me to have three wins this weekend.”

Razgatlioglu is competing at Magny-Cours this weekend for the first time since the practice crash that ruled him out of the weekend last year.

Saturday’s Race 1 will therefore be his first time experiencing the BMW M1000 RR in race conditions at the French circuit, and therefore the Turkish rider placed a lot of importance on his race simulations on Friday afternoon.

“I started very well because, after the crash last year and not continuing to ride, I’m very happy I started more calmly,” he said.

“It’s the first time I’ve done a race simulation on the BMW at Magny-Cours. It looks like I’m very strong, but we still need to improve some corners and sectors.”

Razgatlioglu added that he feels his race pace, comparable with Nicolo Bulega’s in the low-1:36s for the most part, is strong, although – as has been common this year – there is also margin for improvement on corner entry.

“I did 15 laps in the race simulation, and it was very strong; I did a 1:35 two times,” he said.

“I always stayed in the low 1’36s and this is strong race pace.

“After I got back to the box, I explained it corner by corner because, at some corners, I felt some problems, especially engine brake.

“I was just explaining this at some corners, but we didn’t have a lot of time to improve because it was in the last six minutes. I tried some more engine brake, but it didn’t change.

“We can also improve the lap time because, at some corners, I’m riding on the limit. If we improve and the bike starts to help me, I think I’ll ride more easily.”