Toprak Razgatlioglu credits “teamwork” for French WorldSBK pole

Pole position for the 2025 French WorldSBK marked Toprak Razgatlioglu’s fifth of the season and third in succession, something he puts down to “teamwork”.

Razgatlioglu has eight wins at Magny-Cours, but this was his first pole position at the French track.

He took it with the first ever sub-1:35 lap of the circuit on a World Superbike machine, taking pole position by 0.212 seconds ahead of his title rival, Nicolo Bulega, who Razgatlioglu heads by 26 points in the riders’ standings ahead of Race 1.

“For me it’s a good weekend because last year I crashed here and I didn’t continue the weekend,” Toprak Razgatlioglu said in his post-Superpole TV interview.

“But I’m really happy. This is the teamwork, we have improved the bike every race weekend, and I did again the pole position in Magny-Cours.

“I’m just waiting for the race because for me the race is very important. I have the target this weekend. We will see in the race.”

Sam Lowes qualified third despite struggling on his first run. The British rider was pleased, but couldn’t help but be complimentary about the pace of Razgatlioglu.

“Really happy,” Lowes said in parc ferme after Superpole.

“The pace is not too bad.

“It was nice to do that lap; I struggled on the first tyre, so it was nice to do such a strong lap time.

“The two guys in front are very fast, Toprak [Razgatlioglu] also with the rhythm is incredible.

“We’ll see in the race, but we have good pace on used tyres also, so get a good start, make a nice rhythm and we’ll see at the end.”