SBK | Toprak: “Strange sensations and technical problems, but I don’t know why”

Toprak Razgatlioglu was expected to be in top form at Portimao, as we have become accustomed to seeing in the last three rounds. However, the championship leader did not get off to the best start on Friday in Portugal, which saw him finish the two Superbike free practice sessions in third place.

Two technical problems affected the first day of the Portimao round: in the first free practice session, he was forced to slow down, but this did not stop his run at the best time and he finished the first session in the lead. However, the problem recurred in the afternoon, forcing him to slow down at the end and return to the pits to then finish with the third fastest time in the combined timesheets.

But what happened? At the end of Friday’s free practice, the BMW driver tries to give an explanation, but he doesn’t have a clear idea of ​​what happened: “Today, unfortunately, I had two technical problems… And it seems that both were similar. We still have to understand what happened, because the situation is not entirely clear. At the moment we don’t know exactly, the guys on the team are working on it. Overall, the sensations are not bad, but the gaps are small. Here, we are all close”.

In a championship where attention to rubber consumption has become key, used tyres could represent a problem. At least on paper, because Razgatlioglu has the opposite problem: with used rubber he feels much better. “In the first session, with used rubber everything was ok. Then with new rubber I had some strange sensations, especially at turn 10. In fact, after going wide, I slowed down and returned to the pits”.

“I feel much better with used tyres than with new ones, but I don’t know why. Maybe on Saturday we can take a step forward to improve and be faster,” explains Razgatlioglu, who is also satisfied with the new tyre brought by Pirelli: “I think everyone appreciated the new SC0, unlike the standard SC0. Our bike wasn’t accelerating and I had no grip, especially because of the high temperatures. Then there was the yellow flag that complicated things. Let’s say I just need to spend more time on the track,” he concludes.