Toprak Razgatlioglu wrong-footed at Sepang: "It wasn't nice to see myself there

Razgatlioglu is encountering major difficulties adapting to MotoGP: after the Sepang test his mood isn’t the best, but he isn’t giving up.

After five days of work in Malaysia, Toprak Razgatlioglu is still far from being competitive with the Yamaha M1. No surprise. He arrives in MotoGP after many years spent in the Superbike World Championship and is facing a lot of changes; anyone who thought he would immediately be in the top 10 was very mistaken and didn’t fully grasp the situation. We also shouldn’t forget that the Turk is riding the least competitive bike on the grid, with a V4 engine that the Iwata manufacturer is adopting for the first season since MotoGP has existed.

The three-time SBK world champion finished the Sepang test with the eighteenth time, 1.924s off leader Alex Marquez, 170 thousandths behind teammate Jack Miller, and 150 ahead of Diogo Moreira. He’s gaining experience, he’s learning; this isn’t the time to have too many expectations of him.

At the end of the morning session on the final day of testing he was at the bottom of the timesheets, a decidedly unusual situation for someone who in recent Superbike years was almost always first or second: "It wasn’t nice to see myself there - reports Speedweek - As a Superbike rider, I was used to something different. The morning wasn’t the best. I was in a good mood, I went out on new tires, I thought I could lap between 1:57.6 and 1:57.8, but I was slower. That annoyed me and my motivation dropped. In the afternoon we tried a different setup and on used tires I found a good rhythm again".

Razgatlioglu has built an excellent relationship with Miller, who is helping him in the adaptation process to MotoGP: "I rode with Jack for a while on new tires - explains the Turk - and it was obvious how fast Jack was in the corners, especially the fast ones".

The Prima Pramac Yamaha rider reiterated his need to adapt to riding differently from what he was used to in the Superbike World Championship: "I learned something here, but not much. The fact remains that I’m not yet able to ride with the MotoGP style; it’s a completely different way of riding. It requires more of a Moto2 style. You have to be very sensitive with the throttle, the tires are incredibly delicate, and you need to carry corner speed."

To learn, Razgatlioglu also watches other MotoGP colleagues, and someone in particular impressed him: "I also observed Alex Marquez: what he does on corner entry and through the turn is impressive. It’s definitely a combination of style and setup: we need to work on both. I think it will take five races before we find the right path. I really hope the learning process is quick".