WorldSBK Most: Razgatlioglu opens account with lap record

Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his dominant WorldSBK form with a new lap record at the Autodrom Most during Friday practice.

The defending champion was on a roll from the start as he lead for the majority of the morning session before KRT’s Jonathan Rea stole the show in the closing stages of FP1. The pair easily ahead of the next best rider - GRT’s Garrett Gerloff - and just 0.035s apart at the top of the times.

The afternoon found a slightly more subdued Turk until the closing stages, as he worked on consistent race pace throughout the 45-minute session. A late break consisting of three sub-1’32 efforts, however, granted a new all-time lap record thanks to his impressive 1’31.506 best.

“This morning we started well after Donington Park and the bike feels good immediately,” Razgatlioglu commented on Friday evening. “In the first session there was some small setting problem, but in the second session we improve the bike, now I am feeling much better and we are ready to race.

“The lap time is very positive, a very good lap time and also after 25 laps with the rear tyre, I see ’32.3 – this is very good for so many laps on this tyre! I am very happy and I set also the lap record with harder tyre!

“Anyway, we are just focused on the race setup. We use in the race the SC0 tyre, everyone uses the SC0 tyre. We are just focused on working on the bike, and now we are happy, and we are ready. For Superpole, we can use the SCX tyre, but I think this is enough for a good lap time.”