Razgatlioglu ‘surprised’ at new Portimao lap record, calls it ‘incredible’

WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu has made a stunning start to his 2022 preparations after setting a new unofficial lap record during this week’s Portimao test. 

In what was his first on track action of the year, Razgatlioglu finished second fastest to Jonathan Rea on day-one, and although the Kawasaki rider was first in clocking a lap time under Razgatlioglu’s 2021 pole position time (official lap record), the Pata Yamaha rider ended up going two tenths quicker. 

A time of 1:39.616s by Razgatlioglu was over eight tenths faster than his current lap record, while Rea also went under the official record by six tenths. 

Razgatlioglu, who set multiple laps in the 1m 39s bracket, was ‘surprised’ at just how fast the pace was, calling his fastest time ‘incredible’.

"After a long time, we ride for first time and I am very happy to be back with the team and on my bike,” said Razgatlioglu following the test. "On the first day, we try the electronic updates and we work through every session to try to find the best set-up. 

"Also, today we were working a lot to find a good set-up but it is not 100% yet because this is all still very new. 

"This is step-by-step and now Yamaha will look at the data and we will try again at the next test. 

"I’m very happy with these two days, I am surprised to see this is the lap time. It was an incredible lap time, very fast. 

"I saw it was a 1’39.6 and others in the low 1’40s. Thank you to my team, they do an incredible job like always."

On the other side of the Yamaha garage, Andrea Locatelli continued his solid performance from the opening day. The Italian finished fourth fastest during Tuesday’s running, however, the gap between Razgatlioglu and Locatelli was a sizable margin of one second at the end of day-two. 

It’s a margin that Locatelli and the team will hope comes down somewhat, especially since the former WorldSSP champion is a prime contender to challenge for podiums and even the occasional race win in 2022. 

While many riders set a time attack including Razgatlioglu during day-two, Locatelli chose not to do so, instead focusing on his race pace which is potentially a reason for the obscured one second difference. 

Locatelli added: "It was our first days of testing for this year and the feeling with the bike came immediately good for me. 

"We worked a lot with the race tyre, so we didn’t focus on one fast lap, but to work around the bike. 

"We understand a lot more now, and we can for sure arrive in Aragón more ready. Now, we will see what we can do together for the new season. We improved a lot on the rider position as well, which is important for my feeling on the bike. 

"We need to find more on the set-up, but we will also have new parts to try at the coming tests. My team has worked hard and I’m very happy for what they have achieved over the winter, I am sure we will be ready for the first race."