‘El- Turco’ explained his lack of performance in the Superpole race to be caused by choosing the SCQ tires with which he was uncomfortable with. However, in Race 2, Razgatlioglu was back to being his best as he rode his BMW to his and BMW’s first win at the historic Dutch venue.

With this performance, Razgatlioglu finds himself second in the world championship and just six points behind championship leader, Alvaro Bautista.

“In the Superpole Race, we used the SCQ tire like everyone but normally, I thought about using a different tire but that’s racing,” said Razgatlioglu when speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“We did a very good job with a Race 2 win. It wasn’t easy but every lap, I pushed really hard! This is my first win at Assen in WorldSBK, also for BMW, so I’m happy about that.”

“P9 on the grid isn’t really important because if you’re really fast, nine positions is not a problem. At Turn 1, Alex Lowes nearly crashed and I had to close the gas and after, I passed all the riders step-by-step.”

The 2021 World Superbike Champion was putting on a scorching pace at the front after overtaking nine riders before encountering a light drizzle, which bunched up the field and forced Toprak to concede a few positions as he struggled to adapt to the ever-changing track conditions.

But once he found his stride, Toprak again made some quick moves in succession to find himself back in the lead with two laps to go – only this time he wouldn’t concede.

“In the race, I felt confident, and the engine braking was working a bit too much, so we need to find the [right] setup. I did a very good pace.”