Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) returned to his team’s box on Saturday after being ruled out of the Motul French Round following his Free Practice 2 crash on Friday. The #54 was ruled out with mild traumatic pneumothorax but he was at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours on Saturday to watch teammate Michael van der Mark claim victory in a thrilling MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race on Saturday.

RAZGATLIOGLU’S UNFIT STORY AS IT HAPPENED: from BMW 1-2-3 in FP1 to hospitalised after FP2

Razgatlioglu had topped the Free Practice 1 times as he looked to extend his winning streak at a circuit he considers one of his favourites, and on his first flying lap in FP2, he had posted three red sectors as he went faster than anyone else. However, through Turn 14, the Turkish superstar came off his M 1000 RR and went through the gravel. He walked away from the scene before being taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with mild traumatic pneumothorax.

Discussing his recovery and when he plans to compete again, Razgatlioglu said: “I hope to be back in two weeks’ time in Cremona. We’ll have checks again, but I think it should be okay. We will see. I want to thank all the medical stuff at the track and in Moulins hospital. And I want to thank everybody for the many messages and best wishes. See you soon on track again!”

DIFFERENT SIDE TO PARC FERME: Razgatlioglu joins teammate Van der Mark to celebrate win

Razgatlioglu returning to the track meant he was on site to see teammate van der Mark end his win drought in an incredible flag-to-flag battle. The Dutchman won by more than eight seconds after switching from slicks to wets on Lap 4 and battled with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) until the #22 crashed from P1 at Turn 13. Razgatlioglu was on hand

“Michael did an incredible job today,” began Razgatlioglu when speaking about his teammate’s win. “He is always strong in wet conditions, and he showed that again. It was a fantastic ride. He did not take a risk; he was just riding smoothly and finally he got the deserved win. It's a pity that I can’t take part in the races after my crash yesterday, but my recovery is the most important thing. This is what I focus on now.”

ON TOPRAK’S INJURY: Bongers and Sofuoglu on return date, Cremona “too early to say”

Adding his thoughts on Toprak’s situation, BMW Motorrad Sporting Director Marc Bongers commented: “It’s too early to say upfront whether or not we’ll be back for Cremona with Toprak. It was a big impact and he spent the night in hospital and was examined again on Saturday morning. There’s clearly been an improvement of the injury as he was released after and he’ll be examined again on Sunday by the same doctors and equipment. After that, we’ll make a plan for his recovery and treatment and I think that, in a couple of days, we’ll then be able to say if Cremona is realistic or not. It was good to see that he was on his feet and nice to see him down there in Parc Ferme to congratulate Mikey; that was really nice.”

On the other hand and slightly more positive and optimistic, Toprak’s manager – Kenan Sofuoglu – pretty much confirmed that Toprak will be in good enough shape for Cremona: “Toprak is OK and I’m very happy he’s here today. Everyone knows that it was a scary crash but he was lucky too. Sometimes, you need difficult things; we had a very nice last 13 races where we won everything but when everything is going so good, I’m a little bit afraid personally for when the bad and hard things come. The hard thing has arrived but if you watch the crash, you have to be thankful because it could have been a very dangerous situation. Toprak is still healthy, nothing is broken and of course, he has some pain but in the end, he’s here and by Saturday, he was back at the track. He couldn’t race this weekend but it’s not a problem as we have enough of an advantage and also, looking at Saturday’s results, we don’t lose so many points. The Championship is just a bit delayed, nothing’s changed! I believe nothing is going to change, it’ll just be a little bit late. 100%, the goal is to be back at Cremona because I saw Toprak at the hospital and back at the track and there’s been a huge improvement. We have almost two weeks until we go racing and I think 100% he will be at the next round.”

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