Andrea Iannone hits back at “crazy” Toprak Razgatlioglu theory

Accusations of an intra-manufacturer alliance at Ducati from Toprak Razgatlioglu after the Estoril WorldSBK have prompted a sharp response from Andrea Iannone.

Razgatlioglu spoke after the race of the lack of respect he felt some riders in the field had towards his World Superbike title battle with Nicolo Bulega.

The BMW rider also made specific comments about Iannone, whom Razagtlioglu had decided deliberately jumped the start – for which the Italian earned a double long lap penalty – in order to try to interfere with Razgatlioglu.

The evidence for Razgatlioglu’s theory was that Iannone tried to pass him back when the Turkish rider made his move into third place on the second lap of Race 2.

“Iannone received a penalty and did a good job,” Toprak Razgatlioglu said, as reported by Speedweek.

“I overtook him, then he tried to counter. 

“Why is he trying to fight with me when he has a long-lap penalty?

“The Ducati also have a dashboard, right? Later it became clear to me – because he rides a Ducati.”

In response, Andrea Iannone took to his Instagram story on Sunday evening (12 October), saying Razgatlioglu’s accusations were “crazy”.

“Dear Toprak,” Iannone wrote, “You’re a very talented, smart, and strong rider.

“I have great respect for you and your team.

“I just want to make one thing clear: I always go out on track to win and give my best just like you do.

“It’s crazy to think I’d ever make a jump start on purpose to penalise you. 

“I’d never do that. I’d never start a race to help someone or to ruin my own.

“We both come to the races with the same goal.

“Good luck.

“See you in Jerez.”

Locatelli also under fire

Razgatlioglu didn’t only target Iannone after the race, but also Andrea Locatelli, who he felt had defended especially strongly when Razgatlioglu tried to take over second place at turn nine on lap two of the final race of the Estroril weekend.

“In turn nine he drove in the middle, that was very strange,” Razgatlioglu said, as reported by Speedweek.

“I shook my head because I'm fighting with Nicolo [Bulega]. 

“In 2019, I always respected [Jonathan] Rea and Alvaro Bautista because they were fighting for the championship. 

“I held back then, but no one thinks about the championship today. Everyone just wants to show themselves – that's not good. That's why I'm so angry about the first laps.”