Marco Bezzecchi
Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu has opened up on the ‘impossible’ qualifying issue he is currently facing atop Yamaha’s struggling M1 prototype.
Despite still securing a couple of points through a P14 finish at the most recent round of racing in Czechia, Toprak Razgatlioglu is still a far cry from where he wants to be in the premier class.
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Razgatlioglu is well aware that he has the talent to be a top-five rider in the sport, but he’s currently being hamstrung by a subpar Yamaha bike that has seen all four of the riders under the Japanese constructor’s umbrella struggle to be competitive this year.
However, the Pramac ace has now identified the root cause of his lacklustre results in the Grand Prix format, highlighting how difficult he finds it to qualify well after making up seven positions in Sunday’s race at Brno.
- READ MORE: Jack Miller so impressed by what he saw following Toprak Razgatlioglu at Czech Grand Prix
Toprak Razgatlioglu predicts his life to be made ‘easier’ if he improves qualifying pace
During his debrief with the media following the chequered flag in Czechia, Razgatlioglu had a lot to be proud of despite finishing behind 13 other riders.
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In particular, he was satisfied with the amount of effort he put into the 21-lap race, where he ended up as the leading rider on a Yamaha following Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins’ retirements on lap one and 17, respectively.
“In the last eight laps, I kept telling myself: I will never give up,” he told journalists via Speedweek. “It’s incredibly difficult to catch the others. They always open up a gap on the straights and at the corner exits. That’s very frustrating, but I keep fighting, and I’m proud of that.”
He also highlighted how his mood in the race got better as the race progressed, adding, “At the beginning, I wasn’t having any fun. But after about ten laps, I started to ride the bike better. My lap times improved, and I began to enjoy the race.”
However, his big gain in the race only further highlighted the overarching issue with his race weekends: qualifying. The 29-year-old started the Grand Prix from P20 after qualifying last in Saturday’s shootout.
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It marked his second time starting from the very back of the grid this season, following his P22 grid slot at the Catalan Grand Prix. Razgatlioglu predicts that an upturn in one-lap pace is the key to making his life ‘easier’ on Sunday afternoons.
“Our biggest problem is that we never start the weekend strongly,” he said. “We only ever improve during the race. If I qualify in the top eight or ten, everything becomes much easier.
“Then I can keep up with the frontrunners. If I start further back, it’s almost impossible to move forward on tracks with long straights.”
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