“I was ready to fight for the win!” Razgatlioglu - ‘didn’t expect the engine problem’ in Race two
Toprak Razgatlioglu was forced to retire from the second Phillip Island race after his BMW blew up in smoke.
Share on:
After a low-key finish in race one of WSBK Phillip Island round, The Turk looked to be turning his weekend around, with a podium in the sprint race and running in the sharp end in third before obviously the technical problems kicked in.
This left a bitter-sweet feeling for Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was expecting to fight for the win, especially when put into consideration that he passed the eventual winner, Alex Lowes for third place and was eyeing up Alvaro Bautista before his engine gave out on turn 9.
Unfortunately, with an engine failure, it meant that Toprak was forced to sit out for the race 2 restart after the red flag, which was implemented due to Jonathan Rea’s high speed crash at turn 11.
“It’s not easy to say,” Razgatlioglu said when speaking to WorldSBK.com. “I’m really sad because I didn’t expect the engine problem.”
“In Race 2, I said, ‘this is the first time that I’m riding the bike’ because I’m always trying to save the rear tyre.”
“I started and passed Lowes and started going forward, but then the engine problem came.”
The Turk rated his debut weekend with BMW as ‘fifty-fifty’ as he feels that he and his team weren’t able to fulfill the potential that they had from testing where he led the timesheets.
“This is racing and for the first weekend of the season, in general, I’m not really happy, 50/50.”
“I had the podium but in Race 2, I was ready to fight for the win. I was just watching it instead but in Barcelona, we need to come back stronger.”
“Testing and race weekends are totally different and the grip changes. In the races, we learnt a lot as we got race data, and it’s good for work.”
With his first weekend in BMW colors under his belt, Razgatlioglu feels that there will be more to come from ‘El-Turco’, but just like Phillip Island, the following round in Barcelona is also expected to be a tough venue for both him and BMW.
“Phillip Island is different to the ones in Europe. It’s not possible to say if we’re learning 100% but we’ll see in Barcelona but it’s a hard track like here.”
“We’ll start at Assen and other circuits but we’re not bad. Every race weekend, we’re coming step-by-step.”
“I am focused on the second round, working a lot and I am sure the team are too. I am focused on race pace and rear tyres get worn like here. We need a good setup for the long-distance race but it’s not possible to say before we ride. We’ll see in Catalunya.”
I think his tyres would have probably let him down but when you see what he’s already doing on the BMW compared to the others it just shows you how special this guy is.