Superbike: Razgatlioglu led by the BMW engine in Race-2

From the podium to the retirement

Sunday of mixed emotions for Toprak Razgatliogluwhich in the inaugural round of the season in Australia made his debut on the bike BMW. The Turkish driver, in the Italian night, in fact won the 3rd place in the Superpole Race, thus obtaining the first podium of his career with the German manufacturer. The conditions to be able to aim for another top three finish were also there Race 2which however ended after just three laps due to the engine failureresulting in a trail of smoke that forced the 2021 world champion to abandon the track.

“I'm very sad because I didn't expect the engine problem – declared #54 – in Race-2 I said to myself: 'this is the first time I've really ridden the motorbike without restrictions', because I always try to save the rear tire. I set off, passed Lowes and started to recover, but then came the engine problem. These are the races and for the first weekend of the season, in general, I'm not very satisfied. I took the podium, but in Race-2 I was ready to fight for victoriesto. Instead I stayed and watched.”

The precedent in testing

Already in his first ever test at Portimao, Razgatlioglu had had to deal with a very similar engine problem, also in that case stopping on the side of the track after a large cloud of smoke. The work of the Bavarian company, however, allowed the former Yamaha to finish on the podium in the Superpole Race, which BMW had lacked since 2022, completing Race 1 in the top-5.

In conclusion, Razgatlioglu commented on his first weekend with BMW, comparing the performances in Australia to those of the tests: “The tests and the race weekends they are totally different and the grip changes – he added – during the races we learned a lot because we got race data, which is useful for work. Phillip Island is different from those in Europe. It is not possible to say if we are improving 100%, but we'll see in Barcelona, ​​which is a difficult track like this. We will start to be more competitive at Assen and other circuits, but we're not in bad shape. With each race weekend, we are taking one step at a time. I'm focused on the second round, I'm working hard and I'm sure the team is doing it too.”