Third session on a wet track, so useless. Toprak Razgtalioğlu, with a swollen arm, has no plan to attack the favorite Ducati.
Heavy rain overnight made the third and final Superbike session of the eighth round of the world championship at the Circuit de Catalunya unnecessary. With only 19°C on the asphalt, still wet, only six drivers left the pits, on wet or intermediate tires, even though the track was dry at the time. For the record, the fastest was Loris Baz, 1'52″973, in front Álvaro Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioğlu, Eugene Laverty, Axel Bassani and Philipp Öttl. The weather is uncertain: Race 1 should be dry, but the clouds on the Spanish sky do not encourage optimism. It will begin in the middle of a thousand question marks.
Baz finds a huge chunk of time and goes top! 💥#CatalanWorldSBK 🏁 pic.twitter.com/bEq5ySSzi6
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) September 24, 2022
How to beat the Ducatis?
This is the question that prevails in the paddock and particularly in the Yamaha box. Toprak Razgatlioğlu returned to France just 30 points behind the leader Álvaro bautista, thus relaunching his world championship aspirations. But on this circuit, the Ducati rider is the big favorite, which was confirmed by his domination on Friday. “ Bautista's time is impressive, here we all know that the Ducati is very strong “, admits Toprak. “ But the race is a different affair because here the tires wear out quickly, so it will be important to arrive 4-5 laps from the end with the rubber intact. I know this well, because last year, in the dry, I paid dearly for this factor. I don't have a battle plan, just don't ruin the tires when it's not
necessary. » What if it rains? “ Last year, in the first race, in the wet, I dominated (then the Yamaha stopped due to an electrical problem, editor's note) but now everything has changed. »
Toprak has a swollen left arm
Toprak Razgatlioğlu will start the race with a left arm slightly inflated at the level of the ulna. In addition to the scar on his elbow left by the highside of August 21, at the end of testing on this same circuit, there is another more recent injury. “ I crashed in the middle of the straight at the Kenan Sofuoğlu circuit in Türkiye,” says Toprak. “ We were training on our 250s, we touched each other and I fell. Kenan blamed me for it, but I have one opinion contrary,” smiles the reigning world champion. It should be noted that
Kenan Sofuoğlu, five-time Supersport world champion, is the personal manager of Toprak…
Hafizh Syahrin will not race
The Malaysian Honda MIE rider will not participate in this eighth round of World Superbike. Due to inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, he had already missed both Friday sessions. This morning, he was deemed “unfit” by the race doctors. There will therefore be 23 riders at the start of Race 1, which starts this afternoon at 14:00 p.m., with 20 laps to cover. At 11:10 a.m., the Superpole (15 minutes) will define the starting grid.
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