Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Nicolo Bulega's (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) battle on Saturday in Race 1 of the Pirelli Portuguese Round has been the fiercest fight between the two title contenders that has been seen so far. In the two seasons fans have had the pleasure of watching the pair face off, from Lap 4 to the chequered flag the pair overtook each other a total of nine times, neither letting the other pull away when they were overtaken.

“Nicolo did some really, really good riding especially with pushing hard on every lap.” – Toprak complimentary after their Race 1 battle

 In the end, Toprak’s Turn 3, Lap 19 move proved decisive as he seized P1 from Bulega and held off a series of late attempts to overtake by Bulega. Razgatlioglu topped the podium to improve his championship standing to second place, up from eighth place after Australia, and now only 37 points behind at this early juncture.

On his strenuous Race 1 win, Razgatlioglu said: “It wasn’t a good start, I made some mistakes but after that I went step until I started fighting with Nicolo. He did some really, really good riding especially with pushing hard on every lap. Ducati has an advantage here with the hot conditions and in the corner exits from what I was seeing, but also Nicolo was riding very well. We are still learning, and we hope to improve the bike tonight, especially in some corners, the Ducati in some corners has some really really good acceleration. I need more grip as well, anyway, in general I am really happy because we are back in the race.”

“Beating Toprak here is very difficult but could be very nice if we can do it.” - Bulega on tomorrows Portimao action

From his side, Bulega gave Toprak a run for his money he had not faced last year at this track. Last year Toprak’s, Portuguese Round featured not only a hat trick, but his Race 2 win broke the existing record of 12 consecutive race wins – which he set himself during the round.. Bulega’s gritty performance here in 2025’s Race 1 as he says is an indication of progress in the Factory Ducati camp.

He said: “We just never give up, always trying to improve, not thinking about others but thinking about ourselves, where we can improve our package. I say again, beating Toprak here is very difficult, but could be very nice if we can do it. Battling him until the last lap means we have made a big step because last year here he finished with a much larger margin. It means we improved a lot and I hope to be even more competitive in the next races.”

“I think everyone will enjoy tomorrow” – Toprak on Sunday’s action to come

The BMW M 1000 RR and Ducati Panigale V4R are both very capable bikes in racing as last season shows; however, as these riders each have their distinctive style, so too do the bikes. Toprak’s signature late braking style he credits with helping him hold off Bulega, however his platform still has space to improve, such as front tyre longevity.

“On the brakes I am really strong, but especially in the last 8 laps, I felt that I started to lose a lot of grip with the front tire and that I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to.” said Razgatlioglu “I have an advantage on the brakes, but in corner exits, he has a really big advantage, especially in the last corner. Every lap I try to do a different line, but it is not easy with the acceleration and the speed on the straight of the Ducati. On the last lap, I was only thinking about the speed in the last two corners, and how I would need a good line and a lot of grip. Tomorrow we will see, he will come back stronger, I think everyone will enjoy tomorrow”

“Normally this is a Toprak track, to beat him here it is very difficult.”- Bulega on Portimao

The largest margin present at the start of a new lap between the two stars was a mere 0.381s, with Toprak leading going into Lap 15. From there the clash only tightened, with Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) crossing the finish line only 0.067s behind the #1. These slim margins Bulega credits to Ducati for their help with their platform they provided last week.

He added: “Like I said. In the test I was not so strong, so during this break week we worked a lot with Ducati so thanks to them as well for all their hard work. We worked very hard to arrive prepared to the race. It was a very nice battle with Toprak, always he’s very strong, I made some mistakes some places but when I considered where we started, I have to be happy, normally this is a Toprak track; like me in Australia, to beat him here it is very difficult. We try until the last lap, and if we can make some adjustments in specific corners we can improve and give Toprak an even harder fight”.

Watch these rivals battle it out in Portimao’s Tissot Superpole Race and Race 2 on Sunday March 30^th at 11:00 and 14:00 respectively local time (+1 UTC) with the WorldSBK VideoPass!