Toprak quick out of the blocks at Misano Test

Misano WorldSBK Test
Thursday

Toprak Razgatlioglu pipped Nicolo Bulega for the top spot at the end of the opening day of a two-day test at Misano overnight.

While most of the WorldSBK field tested recently at Cremona, Razgatlioglu was a notable absence from that test, which didn’t prevent him from getting straight down to business at Misano, though, the Turk fastest BMW by just over 1.3 seconds.

The gap between Razgatlioglu and Bulega was less than a tenth, but then it was almost half-a-second back to championship leader Alvaro Bautista.

Toprak Razgatlioglu

“I’m very happy because we tried many parts. This is really positive. Also, I did a very good lap time with the SCX tyre, after I used the SCQ tyre, and I did another very good lap time. I kept working after the SCQ tyre run, using old SCX tyres for 10 laps to understand the new parts. On the last lap, I did a 1’33.5s with the 18-lap old tyres. This is nice.

“Just at the end, I felt the front with too much stress because the tyres did a lot of laps. I hope we improve more. The electronics setup is now much better, and we improved a lot. Normally, when they put the SCX tyre, the bike immediately changes a lot. Now we’ve found a good set-up and good electronics setup, and I’m enjoying it a lot with my bike. In the final two hours, we found a good electronics setup, including the engine brake. Step by step, we are getting stronger. We’re finding a good setup and trying new parts.

“Today, I’m also a little bit tired because two days ago, I crashed at Kenan’s track. My right shoulder is in a little bit of pain; on track, it’s not bad. I think, because it’s getting warm, I’m not feeling the pain. Only at Turn 10 I am feeling the pain and also the first braking zone, but after it’s okay. I’m very happy because the team’s very happy. We did a good lap time with the SCX tyre and SCQ tyre. Tomorrow, I have three more SCQ tyres… we will see!”

Razgatlioglu and Bulega were the only riders to go under the current qualifying lap record set by Baustista in Superpole last year at 1m33.017s.

Jonathan Rea was the fastest Yamaha, while Sam Lowes was the sixth quickest on the MarcVDS Ducati.

Remy Gardner was eighth on the opening day after topping the recent Cremona Test.

Axel Bassani was the quickest Kawasaki on the opening day of action.

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Danilo Petrucci was back on track for the first time since the serious motocross accident he suffered in April. Petrucci had plates inserted in his jaw and surgery on his right clavicle on April 14. He completed only 29-laps during the test on Thursday.

Danilo Petrucci

“It’s like having two people inside me because physically, I feel good with 90 per cent of the body. The problem is my right arm. I was able to do 10 laps in a row, but now I can’t hold the handlebar. It’s really painful.

“On the mental side, I’m really happy. First, I re-joined my bike and my team, and I had a good day. There was no pressure; the pressure was inside my head because I wanted to see how my shape was. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the day, after two laps, I was in pain. We modified the position a bit, and I was able to ride in the 1’34s with a race tyre, but I was not able to do more than three or four laps because, under braking, the shoulder was really, really painful. I need to work a lot on my shoulder. I think it was one of the first times I was riding and feeling a lot of pain. I thought I’d be tired and not fit, but it’s the opposite! I’m really fit because I’ve worked out at home, but the right arm isn’t working after a few laps.

“I’ll try to do half a day tomorrow and at lunchtime, we’ll see. We did a full day today but, in the afternoon, I was able to do 10 laps, I re-joined for a lap, and I felt a lot of pain. I feel, off the bike, a lot of pain. Let’s see tomorrow morning if I recover well or not. These days, we’ll continue working with my therapy and then on Tuesday, I’ll go to the Ducati riding experience so at least I have a chance to ride a bike for three days at Mandalika. I’m one of the teachers, and I have one rider to teach, so they said I have one hour each day to ride. On Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, I’ll ride the bike. I think it’s better for the body to feel the heat and so on, and then I’ll come to Misano.”

The quickest Honda rider was Iker Lecuona in 14th who, along with his HRC team-mate Xavi Vierge, continued to use and evaluate the swing-arm that has been used in British Superbike this season.

Jose Escamez – HRC WorldSBK Team Manager

“A test is always important, especially for us in the situation we’re in right now. After the Cremona test, we were working on some parts of the chassis, especially the swing-arm. Here, we want to try again to reconfirm or decline whether it works or not for our bike.

“We’re also going to try a new exhaust pipe configuration. It’s a new exhaust that we expect can help with our power delivery and the connection of the throttle with our riders. Pretty much, we’re focused on that. Of course, as we’re going to work on the exhaust, we’ll need to adapt our base maps and electronics and all those things.

“We’re going to try again the swingarm to make sure it works as we thought or not and the exhaust. We’ll keep, as always, working on the electronics which is a topic where we are struggling.

“It’s a bit confusing. At some points, it looks better, and in others, it doesn’t. That’s why we want to try it again here. We’re not 100 per cent sure it’s going to be better. It’s true that, as Cremona was a new track and changeable conditions, we think here it’s going to be the ultimate test just to reconfirm if it can be better or not.”

Some WorldSSP machines were also on track, with Yari Montella heading a Ducati 1-2 in that category alongside championship leader Adrian Huertas.

Misano WorldSBK Test Times
Thursday

WorldSBK Championship Points

2024 WorldSBK Calendar