Razgatlioglu to make first Yamaha appearance at Misano

Toprak Razgatlioglu heads into this weekend’s third round of the 2021 WorldSBK championship second in the standings after moving ahead of Scott Redding. 

Razgatlioglu had a clean sweep of podiums last time out in Estoril, but no wins which would have been a slight disappointment given his form there last year, and the race pace advantage he showed during free practice. 

This will be Razgatlioglu’s third WorldSBK race weekend at the Misano Circuit World Marco Simoncelli, but first on the R1 following last year’s cancellation of the event. 

The Turkish rider’s best result at Misano was a second place finish - race three of 2019 - after a battle for the win with Jonathan Rea. 

Unlike Kawasaki and championship leader Jonathan Rea, Razgatlioglu tested at Misano alongside the Ducatis of Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi during the pre-season. 

"For me it will be the first time racing with the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK at Misano and I am looking forward to it," said Razgatlioglu.

"In the past I had some good battles with Jonathan [Rea] for the win and I like this track, but we will see where we stand on Saturday afternoon. 

"We are quite strong this year so far and we also had two days testing at Misano in the winter, which felt really good with the new bike. 

"It is not easy to say now where we can be, the race is the important part so we will see on Saturday. The goal is always for the podium and to fight for the win, and I think the R1 will be a good race bike at this track."