Marco Bezzecchi
Sylvain Guintoli feels Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu is starting to get the hang of riding the Yamaha M1, after seeing his pace in practice at the 2026 United States Grand Prix.
Razgatlioglu really impressed Guintoli on Friday during the pre-qualifying practice session at COTA. The 29-year-old ultimately finished the session in P18 as the third-fastest rider out of the Yamaha stable, which factory rider Fabio Quartararo led ahead of Jack Miller of Pramac.
Quartararo set the 15th-quickest overall lap time in practice with a 2:02.037 lap of COTA, as he edged Miller’s 2:02.242. Razgatlioglu penned a 2:02.373, while factory Yamaha star Alex Rins only managed to post a 2:03.038 and finished practice as the slowest rider in the field.
Ducati rival Marc Marquez set the pace in practice at the United States GP with a 2:00.927, enough to boast a 1.110s margin over Quartararo as the fastest Yamaha rider. But Guintoli was most impressed by the race pace that Razgatlioglu produced compared to Quartararo.
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Toprak Razgatlioglu’s race pace at COTA compared to Fabio Quartararo impresses Sylvain Guintoli
Ahead of the United States GP weekend, Razgatlioglu admitted his motivation dropped “a lot” in Brazil last week after struggling with the rear Michelin tyre. While Michelin has not supplied the heat-treated carcass at COTA, Guintoli still believes tyres will be vital in Texas.
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The race simulations on Friday in Austin saw Guintoli reflect on Razgatlioglu’s comments, as he is now learning the Michelin tyres in his first season in MotoGP after using Pirelli tyres in World Superbikes. But Razgatlioglu’s race pace compared to Quartararo impressed Guintoli.
Guintoli said on TNT Sports 2 (27/03, 20:41): “As soon as you go over that 40, 45 degree track temperature, you start having that greasy feeling. It’s difficult. It’s more difficult to hook the bike up. And with those MotoGP spec tyres, it’s so important.
“If you initiate the spin, it’s really, really hard to stop it, and the bike doesn’t hook up. So, these guys are going to be actually very gentle, and actually Toprak Razgatlioglu, in his interview yesterday, was talking about that.
“It’s a big difference from World Superbikes, where you have to be more gentle with the bike, with the inputs, the way you open the throttle, not to start that spin, to hook the bike up and get the traction.
“And once you get the traction, the bike fires out of the corners. And Toprak looks like he’s getting the hang of it. I mean, he’s only eight times off and very close to Fabio Quartararo.”
At the time of Guintoli’s comments, Razgatlioglu was 17th-fastest in pre-qualifying practice compared to Quartararo in P15, Rins in P20 and Miller in P21 among the Yamaha ranks. The 29-year-old had set a personal-best time of a 2:02.936 compared to Quartararo’s 2:02.674.
Razgatlioglu learned a lot from following Quartararo in the Brazilian Grand Prix last week in Goiania, where he felt the works Yamaha star gained a lot on him in the acceleration phase. Yet Razgatlioglu was only 0.262s slower than Quartararo in the race simulations in America.
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