The 2025 season is less than a day away and while the rainy preseason has caused problems for every team in the paddock, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) have struggled to get up to their blazing 2024 speeds. Further complicating the inherent growing pains of incorporating a newly homologated bike, Toprak has had the particular misfortune of suffering a broken right index finger during this most recent offseason, preventing him from testing in Jerez, and limiting his presence in Portimao.

FRUSTATION WITH THE PLATFORM: Toprak on his issues with the BMW bike

While he has managed to stay competitive with this new M 1000 RR, earning a P3 finish in FP2 on Friday, he has been very frustrated with his lack of feeling with the new setup. Phillip Island is a track he has never dominated at unlike other tracks on the schedule, he has only won a single race here back in Race 1 in 2020 when he was still on a Yamaha. Particularly, he spoke on his lack of comfort with the new bike, and whereas he was regularly able to fend off Nicolo Bulega in 2024, in testing at Phillip Island, he feels he has struggled to keep up.

“We know all the very Ducatis are strong here, for me the biggest problem is that we are not fast like last year, we are worse than last year, we are trying to find a way,” said Razgatlioglu. “It’s very strange because I don’t feel confident on the bike, I feel like I’m riding on ice, we’re trying everything and still not finding anything. I did two laps with Bulega, but he is so strong. I see him riding comfortably but I am really fighting on the bike. Normally I am not very strong here, I know, but this year compared to last year feels completely different. I don’t know, we will see this weekend, I will try to fight for the podium but how many laps I don’t know.”

BLEAK IN AUSTRALIA: Toprak hopes he and his team can “find something” to improve their package in FP3

BMW have introduced a new homologation for 2025, with the German brand no longer entitled to superconcessions due to the new model. Although they’ve been able to test with the new bike at Jerez and Portimao, Phillip Island places unique demands on machines which has an impact on performances not necessarily seen elsewhere. It’s also a circuit that ‘El Turco’ has struggled at compared to other circuits with just a sole victory to his name.

Discussing his Friday, where he had a Turn 4 crash and revealed he almost fell at Turn 10, Razgatlioglu said: “I’m not happy because the bike is not working, I’m not fast like last year, last year we were faster than this year, and the bike now is not working after we changed the chassis, it is completely changed, not turning, not stopping, not gripping, everything is changed. I’m not happy, I hope we find something to fight for the top 5 because I don’t think fighting for the top three is possible, maybe top five because it looks like things are going very bad. I’m always riding at the limit, I crashed today and end of the day I almost crashed again in corner 10, the same, I lost the front, but I was able to put my knee more and save it. We will see, a very hard day for me today and tomorrow we will try to improve something, and I hope we do.”

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