2021 Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) topped the Day 1 timesheets at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the Official Test at the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship despite a crash in Free Practice 1, with Razgatlioglu having a dramatic day. He was a tenth clear at the end of the day’s two two-hour sessions as he looks to start 2023 off on the right foot, while teammate Andrea Locatelli also had a strong day in Australia.

Razgatlioglu’s crash in FP1 came with just a few minutes remaining on the clock with the Turkish star crashing at the Turn 10 right-hand hairpin towards the end of the lap. He did not lose much running as he crashed with just a few minutes remaining in the session and he was able to respond in Free Practice 2 to top the timesheets. After the day’s running concluded, Razgatlioglu explained his Turn 10 crash as well as reflecting on his day.

Talking about his crash, Razgatlioglu said: “I had a very small crash. It was a lowside. It was a very strange lowside because I entered the corner and I released the brake and crashed. I don’t understand why. It was very small. It’s just a problem because I don’t have many suits and one suit is destroyed now because the airbags worked. But it was a very slow crash.”

The Turkish rider’s fastest time came in the final few minutes of Free Practice 2 as he posted a 1’30.674s to go fastest on Day 1. He was 0.099s faster than Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in second place, with the Italian rider splitting the ‘titanic trio’ at the top of the order. Razgatlioglu, like in other winter tests, had a focus on the rear of his Yamaha YZF R1 machine as he looked to improve the rear grip.

Reflecting on Day 1, the 2021 Champion said: “Today was not an easy day for me because we tried the new parts again. Finally, on the last lap, I’m happy. We will keep working because we are testing again tomorrow. This morning and in the afternoon, we were working a lot and, finally, we found a good setup. Tomorrow we will continue working. I hope we can improve more tomorrow. We will try to find good grip because rear tyre grip is a big problem at this track. I’m happy but tomorrow we will try for more improvement. I will try a race simulation.”

It was a strong day in general for the factory Yamaha squad with riders Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli in first and fifth place respectively. Locatelli was one of a handful of riders not to improve their time in Free Practice 2 after he set a 1’31.008s in Free Practice 1, which was enough for the Italian to top the times in the first two-hour session. Locatelli completed 75 on the opening day of the test, with Razgatlioglu adding 65 to Pata Yamaha’s tally.

Discussing his day, Locatelli said: “It was a really good day, a good first day here at Phillip Island. I had a really good feeling from the first lap. Also, last year I had a great feeling in difficult conditions, but I think, at the end of four days of testing at Jerez and Portimao, we found a really good base setup and the feeling with the bike was really good. We arrived here and we started working again and the feeling was really great. It’s important to continue working tomorrow, to understand it more and try to be ready for the weekend. I can’t wait to start the weekend.”

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