Denning: ‘Yamaha really trusted Toprak’, was key to title success
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s maiden WorldSBK title win was aided by the entire Pata Yamaha team putting their full trust in the Turkish rider according to Team Principal Paul Denning.
Razgatlioglu’s stunning 2021 season saw him claim career highs in terms of wins, podiums and pole positions as he became the first rider to beat Jonathan Rea to the title since 2015.
And even though Razgatlioglu suffered just two crashes compared to Rea’s four - both of which were out of his control, the Kawasaki rider was only 13 points behind come the season end.
The margin heading into the final round was 30, however, a double feature race win for Rea saw him claw back more than half that deficit, while Razgatlioglu finished the two races in second and fourth.
The incredible back and forth championship battle between Razgatlioglu and Rea drew high praise from the former’s Team Principal, while Denning also alluded to the team putting their entire trust into Razgatlioglu which was key to their success.
Speaking following the final round in Indonesia, Denning added: "With the performance level he (Toprak Razgatlioglu) had, it shows how strong Jonathan [Rea] and Kawasaki is.
"We had 37 races and every time we started with a slick tyre Toprak was on the podium, every time!
"With the wet tyre the worst result is P6, and we had 13 wins. So the fact we arrived here (Mandalika) and Jonathan was so close shows that both these guys; the level was incredible.
"But it’s a team sport and Yamaha improved the bike, the team, the engineers did a great job of adapting the Yamaha to Toprak’s needs, and the biggest thing is that I believe Yamaha and the team really trusted Toprak.
"We gave him what he needed even if sometimes everything was not normal, tyre choice was sometimes like ‘really’? But he would make it work. The bike setting could be strange but he would make it work.
"His talent, but also when you grow up you get a little bit more mature, even though his decisions maybe on-track are still at times a little bit special [laughs], but in general there were no mistakes."
