In just two rounds, Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) Championship lead in WorldSBK has been whittled down to 13 points after a high of 92, following a huge FP2 crash at Magny-Cours which left him unfit for action. Mild traumatic pneumothorax was the official wording for Razgatlioglu not being able to compete, essentially where air accumulates between the chest wall and the lung. This has meant Toprak hasn’t been able to fly and until the air has gone, he won’t be able to be declared fit – even if he himself doesn’t feel pain. So, with 24 hours until Toprak is confirmed as participating or not, what do we know so far about this rollercoaster three weeks for the 2021 WorldSBK Champion and current Championship leader?

THE CRASH: hospitalised and out in France, withdrawn by team for Cremona, treatment in Austria

The crash occurred in FP2 at Magny-Cours, with Toprak on a first flying lap of the session. He tucked the front at Turn 14, collided with the safety barrier at Turn 15 before coming to a halt. After getting his breath, he was miraculously able to walk away but by then, the damage was done. A few hours later, news broke of the mild traumatic pneumothorax injury and whilst it’s “mild”, it remains a serious injury.

Speculation then began about whether or not the #54 would be back in action for WorldSBK’s first visit to Cremona and a circuit he liked after testing there in June. However, the decision was taken by the team to withdraw Toprak, as team principal Shaun Muir clarified in pitlane on Friday morning: “The progress on Toprak is pretty much as we announced on Wednesday. He’s not fit enough, we believe, to compete here. As is well publicised, the team made a decision to withdraw him this weekend to have a better chance to be fitter at Aragon and that remains the case. He’s resting and recuperating with the training roles he’s done at the medical centre in Austria. Not a lot more I can say about Toprak. Our thoughts are with him.”

ATTENTION ON ARAGON: “We still have fingers crossed… it’s 50-50 at the moment”

Continuing on whether or not Aragon is a possibility, Muir stated: “As everyone knows, it’s as painful for him as it is for us. He’s seeing the points lead in this Championship slip away every race. We all have our fingers crossed he can be ready for Aragon but that remains to be seen. I can just say that it’s a 50-50 situation. We’re in the hands of mother nature, he’ll heal as quickly as he can heal. We can only do much intervention to help with that. I wish we could put my hand on my heart and say he’ll be at Aragon, but I can’t say that and we’ll know more in a few days.”

BMW Motorrad’s Motorsport Director, Sven Blusch, also gave comment on Friday afternoon about he felt for Toprak emotionally: “We still have a margin but It was not easy for everyone in the team, but this is what happens, if he can come back in Aragon I think we are in a really good position. Let’s see how it turns out, bike is doing well and we will all help each other and get as many BMWs at the front.”

CHIEF RIVAL BULEGA: “It’s not good to race without Toprak… at the same time, we’re rivals”

At the same time, rookie sensation Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has the chance to snatch the Championship lead at Aragon but that doesn’t mean he’s not missing the Turkish star: “I want to say that I’m really sorry that Toprak isn’t here. I’m being serious; when a rider has a serious injury like he has, I’m sad for them. I know the situation because it happened to me in the past. It’s not good to race without Toprak. At the same time, we are rivals and I’m trying to recover a lot of points to get the Championship closer.”

ENGINE ALLOCATION UPDATE: a seventh engine introduced, Reiterberger shoulders penalty

In a bid to have Toprak coming back to the best and strongest machinery possible, BMW decided to introduce an extra engine, outside of the six each permanent entrant is given for a full season. With Markus Reiterberger substituting for Razgatlioglu, the penalty was served by him – back of the grid start in both Race 1 and Race 2 and a double long lap penalty in each. This means that Razgatlioglu will not have to serve the penalty as the engine introduced has already had its corresponding penalty served.

Clarifying the situation on Saturday, BMW Motorrad Sporting Director, Marc Bongers: “We have Markus Reiterberger as a substitute rider for Toprak. We noted a couple of points that we wanted to prepare for when Toprak comes back. We used Markus as a test rider but because the substitute rider is on the same allocation as the original entry, this would mean Markus would use up quite a bit of mileage of Toprak’s engine allocation. Since we had a couple of failures throughout the season, we just wanted to play safe and save engine mileage for Toprak, so we decided before the event, and Markus was informed about this, to put another engine in the allocation which is infringed with a penalty.

“The penalty means Markus starts from the back for the two main races, including two Long Lap Penalties on top. That’s what he got, expected of course. We proactively went to the FIM to say this is what we were going to do. It’s a shame for Markus but he knew exactly what his role was. He’s been part of our family for over 10 years, he’s brilliant to work with. I’m extremely pleased that, on top of the work he does for us, he achieved good results in practice and Superpole and even in the race he scored some points.”

TOPRAK’S RETURN: “We’re hoping he comes back at Aragon; we’re expecting this but can’t confirm it”

“Toprak will not have to serve penalties and he has fresh engines left for the last three rounds,” insisted Bongers, clarifying the procedure for when Toprak is back on the bike. “We just want to minimise the risk for when Toprak comes back because the Championship is most likely. We’re hoping he comes back at Aragon; we’re expecting this but can’t confirm it. It would be terrible to have a penalty for him so Markus will take the engine and the penalty, and we’ll have more fresh engine mileage for Toprak.”

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