Razgatlıoğlu Flies to Fastest Lap Time in Portimão Friday Free Practice

07-10-2022

Razgatlıoğlu Flies to Fastest Lap Time in Portimão Friday Free Practice

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK rider and defending WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlıoğlu topped Friday’s Free Practice with a commanding lap time of 1'40.720, as the ninth round of the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship kicked off at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal today.

It was a positive result for the Turkish ace, who alongside his #1 Yamaha R1 WorldSBK crew, tested the Pirelli tire options available at this circuit in his search of a race-winning set-up for the weekend. But what really caught everyone’s attention was Razgatlıoğlu’s 21 metre-long “flight” over the crest of Turn 9 on his “in-lap” at the end of FP1!

Teammate Andrea Locatelli was eighth quickest in the combined standings, having set a 1'41.760 lap time in this morning’s Free Practice 1 session before continuing to work on race pace and set-up to manage tyre life during in the hotter temperatures during the afternoon.

With warm, clear weather set to continue throughout the weekend, today’s set-up work could prove crucial in Race 1 at 14:00 (WEST, UTC+1) tomorrow, but not before one final 30-minute Free Practice 3 at 9:00 and the all-important 15-minute Superpole qualifying to determine grid position at 11:10.

Toprak Razgatlioğlu

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Position: 1st Time: 1'40.720

“For me it was a very good Friday because we started really strong. I am happy today, we tried some different set-up combinations and now we are ready to race. After some changes at the start of FP2, I see very good lap time 1’40.7 with SC0 tyre – also not a new tyre, it was used one. I am really happy for this and after we try race simulation with different tyre and finally we know which tyre is better for the race. I love this track and this year, I try my best for three races, three wins. We will see, it’s not easy I know because everyone is very fast but I am coming here for the win. For the jump, I didn’t feel very long flight but we look at the data and I jumped 21 metres! Looks not long, but I think it was very fast! I learned how to jump the R1 when we went to Cadwell Park, for me this is fun after the hard work in the session.”

Andrea Locatelli

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Position: 8th Time: 1'41.760

“I’m happy because the feeling was ok immediately in FP1 and also in FP2, we improved the feeling of the bike a lot. We tried to focus just on riding many laps and to do a long run to understand the bike for the race tomorrow, but the confidence is good and this is important. Tomorrow morning we will try to push hard and do a fast lap to prepare for Superpole. But we have a good base set-up for the afternoon, in the end the position is not so good but I am really happy about the work we did today. I feel good on the bike and we are ready to race.”