Toprak Razgatlioglu had a successful two-day test of the MotoGP bike with Yamaha at the Jerez track on Monday and Tuesday. The Turk finished only 0.7s behind Cal Crutchlow, the Yamaha test rider.
With the help of the favorable weather that prevailed in the two-day Spanish test, Razgatlioglu was able to complete about 100 laps of the 4.4-kilometer course, and his best time of 1:38.860 seconds left him just 0.7 seconds behind Crutchlow and 1.4 seconds behind Dani Pedrosa, who was also running a test session with KTM.
According to reports Razgatlioglu was invited for the MotoGP test in order to try and secure a move into the premier class for 2024 with the Japanese manufacturer.
The 2021 World Superbike champion declared that he had “two really good days” riding the 2023-spec Yamaha M1. He acknowledged that he focused on running a consistent pace and learning the bike rather than pushing for a fast lap time.
Massimo Meregalli, the manager of the Yamaha MotoGP team, and Lin Jarvis, the managing director of Yamaha Racing, were present to watch Razgatlioglu’s development.
Jarvis was impressed with how Razgatlioglu was able to adapt his riding style to better suit the higher corner speeds required to get the most out of a premier class model compared to the more stop-and-go nature of his WSBK R1 bike.
“The cooperation between Cal (Crutchlow) and Toprak (Razgatlioglu) worked very well,” Jarvis said in an interview with Speedweek.
“I think Toprak enjoyed the time with us, it was two interesting and good days for him, and he was able to get used to the bike much better in Jerez and get a better idea of what MotoGP demands of the riding style.
“Toprak is usually very strong on the brakes, he brakes very late and then fires the bike out of corners… MotoGP demands more corner speed so he had to change his riding style to get the most out of the bike.
“Toprak can now process these impressions for a few days before he will compete in the superbike event in Assen the weekend after next.”
Yamaha has not yet announced any additional testing prospects. Future outings may depend on Franco Morbidelli’s performance in the MotoGP series and whether Yamaha decides it is time to part ways with the Italian rider should he fail to build on his encouraging performance in Argentina.
