Toprak Razgatlioglu makes Estoril WorldSBK Race 2 prediction: “I’m ready to fight”

Toprak Razgatlioglu says he’s “ready to fight for the win” in Estoril WorldSBK Race 2, in which he will have his first mathematical chance to win the 2025 title.

Razgatlioglu is two-for-two so far in Estoril after winning the Superpole Race on Sunday morning, following on from his Race 1 win.

His Superpole Race win was taken by 0.5 seconds ahead of Nicolo Bulega, and the BMW rider congratulated the Italian on his pace in the 10-lapper afterwards.

“For me it’s a very hard race because I’m just focused on my pace, my pace also is very strong,” Toprak Razgatlioglu said in his post-race TV interview in parc ferme.

“Congratulations also to Nicolo [Bulega] because he’s really pushing me hard and I’m pushing also every lap.”

The Turkish rider has maintained all weekend that his focus is on winning all three races this weekend and, despite bringing up a first title chance for Race 2, Razgatlioglu insists that remained his focus in the Superpole Race, and will be again in the final race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.

“For me, this race is very important. I’m just focused to win the race and finally we did. 

“We have another important race, Race 2. I’m just focused on this and my target again is to win the race because last year I didn’t do the hattrick here and this year I’m just focused on the hattrick. 

“I’m ready to fight again for the win and I think everyone will enjoy a lot Race 2 because we are starting to fight with Nicolo – this is my opinion.”

For Nicolo Bulega the Estoril Superpole Race was another case of having to admit defeat to the faster rider.

“Honestly, I feel good with the bike,” he said.

“It was not very easy, Toprak [Razgatlioglu] was very fast, it was a nice battle in the first two laps but then he was a bit faster so congratulations to them.”

Bulega, Razgatlioglu “incredibly fast” - Bautista

In third place for the second time this weekend in the Superpole Race was Alvaro Bautista.

It was a race played similarly to Race 1 for the Spaniard, who did not have the pace of the riders in front of him, and perhaps even worse pace than those behind him, but he made few mistakes and held onto a third place that looked under threat for much of the 10 laps.

“Another top-three,” Bautista told the WorldSBK world feed broadcast in parc ferme.

“Again, difficult to follow Toprak [Razgatlioglu] and Nicolo [Bulega] today, they were incredibly fast. 

“I tried to defend, I had a lot of pressure from the back so I cannot relax in all the race, I have to push every lap, every corner. I enjoyed doing this. 

“Let’s see later because we will start from the front row again, and let’s try to fight for the podium again. 

“I think first and second position is difficult, but third is possible so let’s fight later.”