Toprak Razgatlioglu finished this hammer his second contact with the MotoGP YZR-M1. After his debut with the Iwata prototype in the summer of 2022, on a rain-soaked Motorland Aragón Circuit, the Turk was able to enjoy two perfect days this week to get excited about riding in Jerez on what perhaps could be his bike next season.
The former Superbike world champion in 2021 completed close to a hundred laps between Monday and Tuesday, some of them solo and others filming in the company of Cal Crutchlowwho has been offering him riding advice to adapt his Superbike technique to MotoGP.
The times recorded by Toprak have not been disclosed by either Yamaha or the rider; According to Motorsport.com, Razgatlioglu posted a best lap of 1’39.5 on Mondayfinishing seven tenths of the fastest time of Cal Crutchlow and 1.7 seconds behind the man responsible for leading the opening day of the test, the KTM tester, Dani Pedrosa.
At the end of the test, Toprak offered a few brief statements about this promising test in southern Spain, two days “really good”sAccording to the words of Kenan Sofuoglu’s protégé. “I have focused on doing as many laps as possible to better understand the bike instead of looking for a fast lap, but it’s been a lot of fun anyway,” summed up Toprak.
The Yamaha rider in WorldSBK confessed “have learned” much of a motorcycle, the M1, which “requires a completely different riding style than the R1 Superbike. I want to thank Yamaha for giving me this great opportunity, everyone has helped me a lot and I haven’t stopped smiling in these two days”, sentenced the Alanya pilot.
In case anyone doubted the seriousness of the test, The entire leadership of Yamaha Racing Europe has been present in Jerez to witness the evolution of Toprak over the M1; before traveling to Austin, both Lin Jarvis -responsible for Yamaha Racing MotoGP- as Massimo Meregalli -team manager of the Monster Energy Yamaha Team- went to Jerez to accompany Razgatlioglu and share impressions with Cal Crutchlow about the novelties that the British man has been testing in Spain. Even Andrea Dosoliwho holds the position of Jarvis in the WorldSBK paddock, was seen by the Toprak box during the two days.
Jarvis shared some thoughts with Speedweek.com at the conclusion of the test; according to the British director, “the cooperation between Cal and Toprak worked very well”, and is convinced that “Toprak enjoyed his time with us, it was an interesting and good two days for him”
“In Jerez he could have felt much more comfortable with the bike”Lin continues. “Now he has been able to get a better idea of what MotoGP demands in terms of riding style. Toprak is normally very strong under braking, he brakes very late and then picks up the bike at the exit of the corners. MotoGP demands more speed in the corners, so he had to change his riding style to get the most out of the bike.”
With only two days to understand the Yamaha of MotoGP, Razgatlioglu had to dedicate part of the day on Monday to adapting the YZR-M1 to his 1.82 meter height, and that meant losing part of the morning inside the box as as Jarvis recounts: “Toprak is 185cm tall and has a similar build to Valentino. He is maybe 1 or 2 kg heavier than Vale and he is taller than Fabio. So the riding position for Toprak had to be adjusted. At first it seemed to him that he was sitting too high on the bike. That took him some time on the first day.”
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Yamaha has conducted this Toprak Razgatlioglu test very discreetly, perhaps out of respect for Franco Morbidelli. The Italian-Brazilian has a contract with the Iwata factory until the end of 2023, and the rumor of his possible departure from Yamaha is gaining more and more strength so that Toprak is the one who shares the Monster Energy Yamaha Team box with Fabio Quartararo next season; there is even talk of a possible change from Morbidelli to Pramac Ducati, keeping Johann Zarco’s bikeforced to make a great first half of 2023 if he wants to have options to continue running in the Ducatista satellite team next year.