Toprak Razgatlioglu admitted he is “angry” and losing motivation after struggling to get up to speed with his Yamaha MotoGP bike in the Sepang test.
Reigning World Superbike champion Razgatlioglu has been accumulating miles in official pre-season testing in Malaysia over the past two weeks, gathering vital information for his highly anticipated MotoGP debut with Pramac.
Although a safety issue with Yamaha’s new V4 engine consigned all riders from the factory to the garage on Wednesday, Razgatlioglu still managed to complete five days of testing across the shakedown and the collective test.
The Turk set a best time of 1m58.326s on the final day of the running, leaving him 18th on the leaderboard, almost two seconds down on pacesetter Alex Marquez on the factory-spec Ducati.
Razgatlioglu’s time attack was also more than seven tenths slower than the fastest Yamaha rider of the day, Alex Rins, although his real deficit was likely much larger, given that the manufacturer’s benchmark Fabio Quartararo withdrew from the final two days of the test due to injury.
For a rider who has won three titles in the WSBK, including the last two, adjusting to this new reality has proved incredibly hard so far.
“I learned something, but not a lot, because I’m still trying to change my riding style,” he told the media, including Autosport. “This morning, we did not start really strongly. I’m also a little bit angry, because the lap time has not arrived.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Mohd Rasfan – AFP – Getty Images
“In the afternoon, we found some nice set-up with used tyres and I felt it’s a little bit better.”
Elaborating on his troubles with new tyres, he added: “I expected [a time of] 1m57s, but I’m not doing 57s. I was just saying, I may see 57.7s, 57.6s, but today when I started, it was very difficult.
“Also, my motivation is going down because I’m riding the same as before but the lap time is not coming. At the end of the day, I found the rhythm. But I also used two new tyres and did everything. I did only 58.3s, but [the] ideal [lap time was] 58.1s or 58.0s, but again not 57s.
“For me, it’s not easy to see your name so down when you look at the screen, especially after the superbike [success].
“But I’m trying to learn quickly. I hope we will come back. I don’t know how but I’m trying to push every day.”
Why is Razgatlioglu struggling after MotoGP switch?
Razgatlioglu’s slow adaptation to MotoGP machinery can be attributed to several issues. Firstly, he is having to adjust to Michelin tyres, whose behaviour differs drastically from the Pirellis he is accustomed to from WSBK. Razgatlioglu’s move to MotoGP was always made with a view to 2027, when Pirelli will become the official tyre supplier for the premier class. However, for now, he still has to understand the DNA of Michelin tyres, both in qualifying and race trim.
“This tyre is a little bit different from the Pirelli,” he explained. “With the Pirelli, when you feel the spin, it is easy to manage. But with Michelin, when it spins, [the bike is not stopping] again.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“Also, the feedback is perfect on the front tyre now, but the rear tyre is still difficult, because it’s so sensitive. It’s not easy to understand the tyre grip. I need more time to understand.
“We have two more test [days] in Thailand. Maybe we will try some different set-ups because in this test, we did not touch the suspension set-up. We just tried some new parts.”
While he was eventually able to get into a rhythm on used tyres, despite not completing a proper race simulation, he particularly struggled when a fresh tyre was bolted on his bike.
“When I’m riding the bike with the new tyre, it’s so difficult to wait a lot to open the gas because in superbikes, I was always using the rear tyre for turning. I was using the rear tyre to slide and pick up and [to get] good acceleration.
“Now with the MotoGP [bike], [it] is the opposite. You need to ride in Moto2-style and open the gas very gently because this tyre is so sensitive, the rear tyre especially. My team always tells me to ride smoothly but it’s easy to say. After superbikes, this is very difficult.”
Then, Razgatlioglu also has to adjust his riding style for the Yamaha M1. While the pace difference between a road-based WSBK bike and a MotoGP prototype bike isn’t as drastic as some may think, both have to be ridden in completely different ways to extract maximum performance.
So far, Razgatlioglu has been able to carry over his aggressive and hard-braking style into MotoGP, but there are other areas where he is clearly struggling.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
“On the brakes, it’s okay, I’m strong. I do hard braking and stop the bike, it’s perfect. But with the long corners, I still don’t understand,” he said. “On the brakes, I’m now enjoying [the bike], but the corner speed is a little bit difficult.
“This morning, I saw Alex Marquez. His bike is incredible [while] turning and [also has] really good acceleration. Also, the grip is more. This one is a little bit difficult for me, trying to ride like him but the bike is not turning, and we lose a little bit.”
Razgatlioglu tried a different handlebar this week, but it also came with some compromises.
“I’m really strong now with this handlebar but I lose on the straight,” he said. “I lose a little bit top speed and maybe I lose a little bit in the corner because this handlebar is high.
“It’s not easy to lean. This is normally not my style. I’m not going down but now I’ve started trying to change my riding style because in MotoGP we need this.”
Razgatlioglu will get two more days of testing in Buriram later this month before the opening round of the season on 1 March. The 29-year-old is aiming to complete a race simulation at the Thai venue to prepare for his first year in MotoGP.
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