With the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returning to racing again after a six week gap for the Pirelli Dutch Round at the iconic TT Circuit Assen, eyes were on Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometon WorldSBK) to see whether he would be able to start a fightback in the Championship standings against Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) with the Spaniard leading by 37 points. However, Friday proved to be difficult for Razgatlioglu as he finished in tenth place in the combined classification while Bautista led the field.

Razgatlioglu was sixth in Free Practice 1 as he completed 14 laps with a best time of 1’35.273s, almost seven tenths slower than Bautista, while he was tenth in Free Practice 2 after setting a 1’35.103s. He racked up another 20 laps in FP2, but his time was not enough to move him up the order and he finished tenth in the combined classification. The pace on Friday was set by Bautista when he set a 1’34.316s.

Reflecting on his Friday, Razgatlioglu said: “In these two sessions, I was just trying to find a setup but I’m not really happy. Last year, I was feeling much better than now and I hope tomorrow morning we improve, find the setup and I’m coming stronger. Today, for me, was not a good start or a good end. I hope tomorrow we start well. I need a good feeling with the bike first. After this, I think I will improve everywhere. Last year, in my first session, I did a 34.6s directly and this year I’m feeling like the bike is a little bit different. I’m just trying to find the setup and I hope we start tomorrow strongly.”

Elaborating on this in his media debrief, he said: “In general, I’m feeling a little bit bad because I don’t find a good setup for this track. In the second session, I’m waiting for a good lap time and it doesn’t change. I did a 35’1 but also I’m feeling the limit. On some corner entries and exits, I’m feeling bad because the bike isn’t turning as much. I hope tomorrow we are finding grip and we come back strong. Now it looks very bad because last year, in the first session, I did a 34.6s. Normally I am very strong and this year I am waiting to be faster than last year but we started very slowly. It looks like we haven’t improved the bike. I hope we improve the bike because we don’t just have one problem, we have many problems.”

Free Practice 2 was briefly red flagged when an inflatable crocodile blew onto the track in front of Razgatlioglu. He was able to keep riding and did not crash following the incident which brought out the red flags so the crocodile could be cleared. Discussing this, Razgatlioglu said: “I’m scared! I saw just the green and I just tried to brake. I don’t know what this is, I don’t understand. At 270, 280km/h, it’s not easy to understand what this is. Anyway, we didn’t crash, just I’m scared. I continue riding and I saw after the red flag.”

Will Razgatlioglu be able to respond on Saturday? Find out using the WorldSBK VideoPass!