Razgatlıoğlu Sets Commanding P1 Pace in Estoril Friday Free Practice

20-05-2022

Razgatlıoğlu Sets Commanding P1 Pace in Estoril Friday Free Practice

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK rider Toprak Razgatlıoğlu topped the timesheets in Free Practice at Circuito Estoril as the third round of FIM Superbike World Championship got underway in Portugal today.

As the temperate heated up this afternoon, so too did the action on track with Razgatlıoğlu recording a scintillating series of quick laps in succession including his fastest lap of all: a 1'36.290, almost 0.2s clear of key championship rival Alvaro Bautista (Ducati). With teammate Andrea Locatelli rounding out the top six, it was a positive day on both sides of the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK pit box.

The team undertook its usual Friday programme, working diligently to confirm the development steps taken since the last round in Assen while finding the best race setup for both riders across the 4.226 km circuit.

Free Practice 3 looms early tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time (UTC+1) with 30 minutes of track running available to fine tune the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK for both riders. The all-important Superpole qualifying, where Razgatlıoğlu will have a chance to extend his run of record-breaking pole positions, takes place at the regular WorldSBK-scheduled time of 11:10 before Race 1 at 14:00.

Toprak Razgatlioğlu

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Position: 1st Time: 1'36.290

“I like this track, in 2020 we had two very good race wins, and now we come back again and I’m very happy to be riding again here because it’s one of my favourite tracks. We are working for a good setup for the race and now I’m happier with my bike compared to Assen. Also we try eight laps together with very good and constant lap times. I’m not trying for fastest lap, just ride my bike as good as possible and the feeling is very positive – so we are happy, a good start but also we need some improvements and we try for this tomorrow. Everybody is fast but we feel very strong and again, every race we will be fighting for the win.”

Andrea Locatelli

Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Position: 6th Time: 1'37.201

“I’m happy about today because we worked really well immediately from the start of FP1. It’s important now to work tonight to prepare, but the good points are that we have a lot of data, I have a good confidence with the bike and good feeling – so overall I’m confident for tomorrow. Today, we tried the long run to understand how the bike is working and I’m quite happy about it, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow. It didn’t feel like we started from zero, I have a good confidence with the bike – we are here to push and to try and get the maximum. I want to get another podium, so it’s important to continue in this way because I want to fight for the top positions. If we start in the first two rows tomorrow, we can have a good race for sure!”

Paul Denning

Team Principal – Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK

“A good day at the office for both of our riders! It’s been four weeks since Assen, but the work behind the scenes to create a better package to fight for victory has been relentless and that’s helped us make a solid start today. As we’ve seen from the first two events of the year, the pace required to win in 2022 is a significant step up from last year. So the target is to give the riders confidence and a comfortable package so that they can push the envelope even harder and be there fighting at the front. A decent start, but the fast guys are always fast and we’re fully focused on further improvements for tomorrow.”