This is a situation that particularly annoys Kenan Sofuoglu who manages Toprak Razgatlioglu's career with an iron fist in a velvet glove: while his foal is the reigning WSBK World Champion, he has not yet won the slightest victory after three meetings already completed in this 2022 season. An event which is greatly desired for this weekend in Misano by the Turkish clan and all the more so as the promised test in Aragon on the M1 in order to evaluate what a Toprak would give in MotoGP…
And for this discovery session, arriving as the winner is always a favorable position that frees the mind. Because the title defense mission is not going as planned for Toprak Razgatlioglu. The changes made to the Yamaha R1 in winter did not turn out to be the philosopher's stone, and the competition became stronger. Jonathan Rhea seems to have worked better on his Kawasaki and is 35 points ahead after three meetings. For his part, Alvaro Bautista, back at Ducati, also shines with his consistency and speed and even scored 57 points more than the Yamaha with statutory No. 1.
In order to close the already significant gap, Razgatlioglu needs nothing less than victories. But so far he has not accounted for any in the 2022 Superbike World Championship. This is one of the reasons why Yamaha completed a day of testing after the WSBK weekend at the Autodromo do Estoril. “ We made good steps in Estoril » announces the Turk. “ First in racing and also in testing. Thanks to the team for this test, it was good for me and for the bike ", declared the pilot of 25 years a few days before the fourth meeting of the season.
« After two weeks of training at home, I'm looking forward to Misano, a track that I really like. The Estoril trial was very positive because we were able significantly improve rear grip, which was a problem on the last lap. The team and Yamaha are working on improving the R1. Lately, I was able to drive more like I'm used to, it was very close and I enjoyed the races. We scored good points for the championship, but now I hope we will fight for victory again in Misano ».
"Toprak Razgatlioglu loves the Superbike paddock. If it was his choice, he would stay in WorldSBK"
A year ago, Razgatlioglu had taken two second places and a victory at Misano. In his team Yamaha , we have no doubt that all this is just a setback. His team leader Phil Brown comments: “ in the first two heats we were not able to brake as late as Toprak wanted. In Estoril we managed to correct this aspect of the bike and so even if it lost on the straight, it could recover under braking. By fixing the speed issues coming out of the corner, the gap in a straight line is not that big. That's our goal, which is to try to exit the corners as cleanly as possible to give him a motorcycle that brakes as late as he wants and which is as stable as possible to try to reduce the gap ».
« We all know there's no need to panic, it's the worst thing we could do »Adds Phil Brown on the site WorldSBK.com. " We just have to keep doing what we're doing and everything will be fine. In my opinion, there is still no need to press the panic button! We just need to sit down and continue to make sensible, logical decisions: it's the best thing we can do ».
And he ends with this MotoGP test: “ Toprak loves the Superbike paddock. If it was his choice, he would stay in WorldSBK because he loves this paddock… If he gets the opportunity, I'm sure he will take it. It adapts very quickly and so I think he can drive anything. He would get away very quickly » concludes Phil Brown. “ He has an incredible feeling with the front tire so I'm sure he will be able to get the most out of this package if the opportunity presents itself. ».
