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The entire MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid have gathered at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the two-day Official Test, but one rider who didn’t get off to a great start was Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). The reigning Champion crashed at Turn 6 in the opening stages of Free Practice 1, suffering a highside crash at Siberia on just his third lap in the opening two-hour session. Check out photos from the #1’s crash in the gallery at the top of this page!

Although Razgatlioglu only set two timed laps in Free Practice 1, he was back on track in Free Practice 2 and took his tally to the day to 34 laps. He finished third in the afternoon session after setting a 1’29.334s, lapping just over half-a-second down on the pace set by Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). The Ducati rider’s best time was a 1’28.765s, also set in FP2, as he claimed top spot for the opening day of the Official Test.

Discussing his crash and how he’s feeling after the highside, ‘El Turco’ stated: “For me, it was a very strange crash. We checked the data. I’ve got 39% gas and I highsided because the traction wasn’t working there. I spoke with my electronics guy. He checked why it wasn’t working and he didn’t know. I’m lucky nothing is broken but I feel pain everywhere, especially in my hand. In the afternoon, I rode again because I needed to ride to understand the bike and work on setup. At the end of the day, we had good pace. We understood the bike and found some good setup. Tomorrow is another day and I hope we find a good setup because the pace is important here. Now it isn’t bad, but I need a little bit more. I saw the picture when I was flying! I immediately tried to cover my hand. The finger isn’t bad; I feel a little bit of pain. I’m still riding the bike; this is the important thing. I think, for the race weekend, I’ll feel much better because we have three or four days. It looks like everything is going positively, only this morning was a little bit strange.”

Razgatlioglu completed five stints during FP2 although none were 10 laps in length, which would be half-distance for the Australian Round’s full-length races and in the middle of the mandated pit window for Race 1 and Race 2. His longest run was his third stint, when he completed six laps, with five of the six either in the 1’29s or low 1’30s bracket to give a glimpse of his potential race pace at Phillip Island. His fastest lap came in his last stint of four laps, where all four were in the 1’29s, the fastest being a 1’29.334s.

Expanding on his test programme and his pace, the reigning Champion said: “It’s not bad. I tried to use the SC0 tyre but in the morning, I wasn’t riding the bike, and in the afternoon, we didn’t know if it was possible to ride or not. The team didn’t organise the SC0 tyre, so I didn’t use it, but we did a lap time that wasn’t bad; especially after the red flag, I had a good pace. I’m happy. If I used the SC0 tyre, I think we do a 1’28s lap time, maybe similar to Bulega.”

Can it get any closer? Follow Razgatlioglu’s title defence throughout 2025 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!