Toprak Razgatlioglu becomes a talking point: the Superbike acrobat adrift—here’s why

Toprak Razgatlioglu expected to have a tough weekend in MotoGP at Silverstone, but not this tough. Stuck at the bottom of the timesheets in every practice session, even finishing last in the Sprint. Behind even (by 7 seconds) the test rider Augusto Fernandez, who raced the Yamaha YZR-M1V solely for comparative tests and data collection. There is an explanation for this performance flop, although the overall balance of the weekend remains concerning.

Until now it was said that Toprak Razgatlioglu struggled on circuits he already knew from Superbike, carrying over years of a riding style at odds with today’s MotoGP. At Silverstone, however, the three-time world champion last raced there 12 years ago in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, so this theory completely falls apart. Even according to the man himself, who did a bit of “driving school” over the weekend. "I’m still trying to adapt my riding style to MotoGP, especially in terms of corner speed," Toprak explained. "That’s why I tried to follow Jack (Miller) and Fabio (Quartararo) in practice, learning as much as possible and studying their data."

In any case, the explanation for the last place in the Sprint is quickly said: tires. Unlike Jack Miller, the other Yamaha riders started with the soft rear and, in Razgatlioglu’s case, basically ended up on the canvas after just a few laps. "I didn’t expect such a drastic drop after only 4–5 laps: I was quite surprised by how much the rear tire deteriorated," explained the Prima Pramac Yamaha rider. "With no rear grip left, it was hard to ride. We tried to understand how this was possible, because compared to other riders the drop was more pronounced." With a different setup and the medium rear, Razgatlioglu will try in the long race to make up for what is so far the worst weekend of his short MotoGP career.