Marco Bezzecchi
Toprak Razgatlioglu finally made his long-awaited MotoGP debut at the Thailand Grand Prix this weekend, and Neil Hodgson has nothing but praise for the rookie rider despite his 17th-place finish.
Marco Bezzecchi was dominant in MotoGP’s season-opening Thailand Grand Prix, securing victory ahead of Pedro Acosta and Raul Fernandez to mark a podium-less Grand Prix for Ducati for the first time in 88 attempts.
On the other end of the grid, Yamaha’s riders continued to struggle due to the performance of the M1, with the Japanese constructor only managing to place two riders within the top 15 points-paying positions.
Fabio Quartararo continued to be Yamaha’s flag-bearer, taking P14 ahead of Alex Rins in P15.
Maverick Vinales then split the rest of the Yamaha stable, with the Pramac duo of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jack Miller finishing in P17 and P18, respectively, behind the Spaniard.
- READ MORE: MotoGP fans furious with Michelin as Marc Marquez suffers ‘horrible’ Thailand Grand Prix DNF
Was Toprak Razgatlioglu’s MotoGP debut above, below or on par with your expectations for him at the Thailand Grand Prix? 📊
Let us know in the comments below!
Neil Hodgson was very impressed with Toprak Razgatlioglu on his MotoGP debut at the Thailand Grand Prix
Despite not being able to secure some points on his debut in the premier class, there are still a lot of positives that Razgatlioglu can take from his maiden Grand Prix.
Speaking on TNT Sports’ live coverage of the Thailand Grand Prix, former MotoGP star Neil Hodgson was full of praise for the Turkish rider.
As the world feed cut to a shot of Pramac’s #7, he said (8:24am 01/03), “Here’s Toprak, here’s your three-time World Superbikes champion. He’s doing a fantastic job.
“He’s been off the pace a little bit in preseason testing. He was struggling to get comfortable on the bike, and a lot of that is to do with his unique way of riding. He likes to sit low in the seat; he likes to sit equal to the bike, not on the bike.
“The Yamahas, whenever you sit on one, you do feel like you’re perched on them, so it’s sort of the opposite feeling that he’s striving for.
“So we’re still in the early days of him experimenting and trying to get people on the bike. But if this is the early days and he is less than a second, or about a second, behind Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha’s number one, then I don’t think he’s doing a bad job at all.”
One thing that immediately sticks out is the fact that Razgatlioglu managed to finish ahead of his Pramac teammate, Miller, by the time the chequered flag fell in Buriram.
While a P17 is nothing to shout about, it’s certainly a sign of good things to come for the 29-year-old rookie.
- READ MORE: Marc Marquez tells Toprak Razgatlioglu to work out his ‘priorities’ after Yamaha’s bleak winter
Pedro Acosta leads the championship for the first time in his career after his P2 in Thailand. Will he be a genuine contender this season?
Let us know in the comments below!
No Yamaha riders were present in the post-Grand Prix media scrums
Unfortunately, Razgatlioglu was unable to give his immediate thoughts on his debut Grand Prix, with Paolo Pavesio being the sole member of the Yamaha stable to take part in the post-race interviews.
While there is no clear reasoning as to why Pavesio felt the need to stop his riders from debriefing the media, it can be suggested that the Japanese constructor is doing all they can to stop the pre-season outrage over their new V4-powered bike from spilling into even more fury.
Quartararo has been Yamaha’s most vocal critic in recent months, and the Frenchman has been told by Hodgson to remain ‘professional’ despite the hiccups that he continues to face.
He finished over 30 seconds behind Bezzecchi at the time the chequered flag fell in Buriram, which indicates that the M1 is still over a second a lap slower than the frontrunning bikes.
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