Marco Bezzecchi
Pramac team manager Gino Borsoi is very happy after what he saw from rider Toprak Razgatlioglu across a promising first day in practice at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old was the best Yamaha rider in FP1, as he edged works star Fabio Quartararo by 0.051 seconds for P10 and P11. Razgatlioglu set a fastest lap time around Balaton Park of 1:39.398 in the first session, and he was only 0.030s slower than Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia.
Razgatlioglu threatened to be the best Yamaha rider during the timed pre-qualifying practice session at the Hungarian GP, as well. Instead, Pramac teammate Jack Miller had that honour, as the Australian set the 10th-best time to eclipse Quartararo in P11 and Razgatlioglu in P12.
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Gino Borsoi thinks Toprak Razgatlioglu has ‘the best riding style’ for Balaton Park
Razgatlioglu was only 0.165s slower than Miller and 0.054s slower than Quartararo in their battle to be the best Yamaha rider and to get a Q2 place in qualifying for the Hungarian GP. His race pace earlier in the session had even proven to be very promising for Sunday’s race.
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Pramac team manager Borsoi was particularly pleased with what he saw from Razgatlioglu in FP1 and early in practice at the Hungarian GP. Borsoi feels the Turkish racer’s riding style was key to showing instant pace, as it is “perfect” for the stop-start nature of Balaton Park.
“It was a good Friday for him, and for the team, especially because Toprak was all the time close to the top 10, and this is good news for us,” Borsoi told TNT Sports 2 (05/06, 14:31).
“But honestly speaking, I have to say that it’s a track where nobody has a lot of information, so I could say we can start almost from zero.
“He has, let’s say, the best riding style for this kind of track – he’s a rider who likes to brake very late and deep. So, it’s the perfect track and layout for Toprak.”
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Balaton Park is not widely liked among the MotoGP riders, but Razgatlioglu says it is a circuit that he “loves” after his dominance there last July in the World Superbike Championship. On the back of taking pole position, Razgatlioglu won all three WSBK races in Hungary last year.
Given the success that the three-time World Superbike champion enjoyed for BMW last year at Balaton Park, Razgatlioglu is targeting a top 10 in the MotoGP Hungarian GP. It might have seemed unlikely ahead of practice, but his pace throughout Friday proved very encouraging.
Friday was not entirely perfect for Razgatlioglu, as the Pramac pilot had an early incident in FP1 with Ai Ogura that left the Trackhouse ace’s Aprilia RS-GP with damage. Razgatlioglu hit Ogura from behind in FP1 at Balaton Park as he seemed to misjudge his rival’s braking point.
Razgatlioglu recovered from the mistake to often emerge as the best Yamaha rider, though, and will hope his promise persists in qualifying and he can join Pramac teammate Miller in Q2 at the Hungarian GP. He has yet to advance from Q1 after his first seven MotoGP races.
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