Toprak Razgatlioglu believes he would have lost Sunday’s WorldSBK races in Aragon ‘no matter what’ due to rival Nicolo Bulega’s strong pace.
Razgatlioglu took his first-ever win around the Aragon circuit in Race 1 on Saturday, but was forced to surrender the Superpole race and Race 2 to title rival Bulega.
The championship leader saw his advantage in the standings cut to 36 points after Bulega’s two wins, and admitted he “had no options” but to settle for second behind the Italian on Sunday.
“The first race was fantastic for me because I was finally able to take a win in Aragon,” Razgatlioglu said via Speedweek.
“In the Superpole race, I only lost the race in the last corner. I had no options there because no matter whether I tried on the inside or the outside, I was still overtaken. Nicolo was 0.3 to 0.4 seconds faster there.
“In the second race, I gave it my all. When Alvaro [Bautista] came closer in the last three laps, I gave it my all.
“It was only on the last lap, when I was a second ahead of him, that I took it easy. Second place was important to me, also in terms of the overall ranking.”
In Race 2, the Turkish rider made an error at Turn 7 after being overtaken by the Italian on Lap 12, handing the victory to his title rival.
The Turkish rider explained his error was due to not feeling “any engine braking” but suggested it had no impact on the result.
“In Turn 7, Nicolò was on the inside, and I didn’t want to overtake him,” The Turkish rider said.
“But when I braked and downshifted, I didn’t feel any engine braking. On the contrary, the bike pushed forward,.
“I didn’t understand why and was surprised. I even used first gear because I didn’t feel any deceleration in second gear. But that didn’t really matter.
“I made a mistake, and even if I hadn’t, I would have only had a small chance against him; Ducati was simply too strong in the final corner.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu breaks down why ‘Aragon is a Ducati track’
Although Razgatlioglu broke his duck at Aragon, he was still dissatisfied with what he perceived to be a big gap in performance between Ducati and BMW.
Explaining his frustrations, Razgatlioglu mentioned:“Their electronics work better, the bike has a lot of torque and superb acceleration. That’s why Aragón is a Ducati track.
“On my BMW, the rear wheel spun as soon as I turned the throttle.”
“Our engine braking wasn’t particularly good all weekend. Basically, I was braking the bike exclusively through the front wheel.”
“His turning and grip were also on a whole new level,” he added.
I overtook him at every conceivable spot, but I didn’t need to take the risk because he simply passed me on the straight.
“He only gave it his all in the final corner; he took all the other corners normally.
“It’s not nice when you’re pushing yourself to the limit every lap and your opponent only has to work hard in that one corner.”
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