Looking at the times of today’s WSBK test at Barcelona, Toprak Razgatlioglu is a name that stands out but not everything went well for the new BMW rider, who crashed. Other than the action on track, where there were also positive points, the former world champion also make some comparisons from the number of people inside the box.
The turkish spoke about his crash and how it happened and… recalled his former bike, from other manufaturer, as quoted on the official website of the championship: ‘I had a small crash at Turn 10, trying to fix the engine braking. The rear locked a bit, released, the rear was sliding and then came back again and pushed me into the corner and then I fell. The crash was slow but the bike was destroyed. I saw some parts! I got back out to try and fix the rear grip but I’m still not 100%, especially here. Entry it’s OK but the exit with the opening of the gas, it spins a lot. At Yamaha, I can remember that it had better grip and with BMW, we found a way and tomorrow, we’ll work more and I hope to feel better. I have traction, no problem; there’s just no grip’.
He continued to shed an eye on some of the differences between what he sees inside the garage: ‘With the team’s side, it’s similar to Yamaha but on the manufacturer side, I see a lot more people from the factory. At Yamaha, I never saw Japanese guys. Just Italian and British guys. Here, there’s a lot of German guys because the project is very important for these guys. What I need, they immediately make. I always say I need more engine braking and these guys make new software just for me. What I need, BMW make it; it’s direct with the factory’.
He then completed his analysis on the day, looking at the plan for tomorrow: ‘I used the new swingarm; the plan is that we’ll use the old swingarm tomorrow to understand the grip because it’s bad. With the Q tyre, we’ll have more grip but I’m still feeling the tyre spinning’.