Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) returned to winning ways for the first time since the Portuguese Round by claiming victory at the Circuito Estoril, beating Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) by nine seconds. The #54 showed incredible race pace throughout the 21-lap fight to take the win and extend his Championship lead by gaining five points over Bulega, edging closer to being crowned the 2024 Champion; the moment could come as soon as Sunday during the Estoril Round.

THE TURKISH STAR’S PACE: unbelievable consistency

Razgatlioglu topped both of Friday’s practice sessions, in wet and dry conditions, and then converted that into pole position in Saturday morning’s Tissot Superpole session for his sixth pole of the season. Opting to use the harder SC0 rear tyre and, at the start of the race, ‘El Turco’ dropped down the order as the SCX tyre used by his rivals proved beneficial. However, Razgatlioglu was able to maintain his pace throughout the race as he claimed victory by more than nine seconds.

Out of the 21 laps, only two of the #54’s lap times were outside of the 1’37s bracket. The opening lap, which is naturally always going to be slower as it includes the race start, was a 1’42.589s, while he posted a 1’38.142s on Lap 4. The other 19 lap times were in the 1’37s bracket, with the fastest lap – a 1’37.149s – coming on Lap 9. Although his pace got slower, his slowest lap of the race was on the final lap when he posted a 1’37.938s.

Reflecting on his win, Razgatlioglu said: “The race was really difficult. We didn’t know what the weather would do, it’s been a bit strange, and also, we used a different tyre. All riders used the soft tyre, I used the SC0 standard. My pace was very strong. At the beginning of the race, I’m just waiting and watching. I’m not pushing immediately but started to build slowly. I did a good job and I’m very happy.”

TYRE GAMBLE: the only rider on the SC0…

With mixed conditions on Friday, it was impossible for the riders and teams to get tyre performance data in the dry over a full race distance. Every rider on the grid opted to use the SCX or SCX-A development tyre except Razgatlioglu, who stuck with the SC0 solution which is a harder tyre that the BMW rider was able to use to good effect on his way to victory, and the Turkish start explained why he opted for SC0 tyre.

He said: “At the end of the race, I felt like there was a little bit of tyre drop. I need to improve my bike because I wasn’t happy at some corners. Maybe we’ll use the soft tyre because I tried it for the race, it felt like a Q tyre; after using the SC0, the grip is completely different. This would’ve been a gamble for me because I didn’t know the tyre life, I used the SC0 because I know it. Tomorrow, the weather is much better, looks like it’ll be warmer, so I’ll use the soft one.”

TITLE FIGHT PLAYED DOWN: match point on Sunday for the #54

In the title fight, Razgatlioglu’s win coupled with Bulega’s second place means the gap between them is up to 44 points after the five-point swing. It’s still mathematically possible that Razgatlioglu will be crowned in Race 2 on Sunday, with the 2021 Champion now needing to outscore Bulega by 18 points across Sunday’s two races. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) crashed out of Race 1, dropping out of title contention; he’s 106 points behind Razgatlioglu with 99 available.

On the title fight, the #54 commented: “I don’t know if, tomorrow, I win the race and Bulega finishes second, I’m not Champion. I’m not thinking about this. I’m just focused on the Championship finishing at Jerez and enjoying the race. My target is three wins this weekend and I’m here for this.”

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