Some of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field descended on the iconic Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for the first of two days of testing in Italy and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was full of optimism following his on-track action, declaring that he is ready to fight for victory at the Emilia-Romagna Round next month. Razgatlioglu’s day was interrupted by a crash in the morning session but he was still full of positivity following the day’s action.

Razgatlioglu’s fastest time was a 1’33.545s which was set in the afternoon session before the rain fell with his tome coming in a five-lap stint at the end of the day. The 2021 Champion racked up 92 laps on Day 1 despite a Turn 3 crash, which occurred on old tyres and he was able to ride his bike back to the pits, to finish in second place. He was 0.510s behind pacesetter Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who set his time on the SCQ tyre while Razgatlioglu’s was on the SCX.

It was Razgatlioglu’s race pace, however, that left the Turkish rider happy at the end of the day. His longest stint was a 15-lap run in the afternoon. He started off with times in the low 1’34s bracket before setting his fastest times of the run, in the 1’33.8s-1’33.9s brackets towards the end of his stint. Between his tenth and 15^th lap of the stint, Razgatlioglu only went below 1’34s on one occasion, on his penultimate lap. On the final lap, he was back in the 1’33.8s bracket. In a shorter stint later on, Razgatlioglu completed five laps and four of them were in the mid-to-high 1’33s with his representative times ranging from 1’33.545s to 1’33.729s.

Discussing his day and his race simulation, Razgatlioglu said: “I finished the first day in second position, but I was not looking for the fastest lap. My race simulation is unbelievable! We made a big improvement at this circuit. I’m always very happy, I’m enjoying riding after Catalunya because we were riding at half gas there. There was no grip and we needed to keep the tyres for the last five laps. Here, we don’t have the tyre drop. We are pushing every lap and I enjoyed today. My race simulation was very strong. In the afternoon, in the warmer conditions, we used the SCX tyre. We did very good lap times and almost my best lap time with the race tyre. I did a race simulation with similar lap times. For me, it’s a very positive test for the first day. In the afternoon, it started to rain. I used the SCQ tyre but it’s not possible to get a very good lap time because the SCQ tyre has a lot of grip and the rear is pushing a lot. The bike wasn’t turning. We need to work on the bike setup with the SCQ tyre.”

Razgatlioglu claimed his first victory of the 2022 campaign at Misano last year when he won the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race. He goes into the 2023 Emilia-Romagna Round with a win to his name, after his win in the Superpole Race at Mandalika. However, his wait for a win in either Race 1 or Race 2 goes on in 2023 and he will be hoping his first won of the year comes at Misano especially after the strong race pace he showed.

Looking ahead to the round, Razgatlioglu said: “It’s a very positive test for me and now I’m waiting for the round. Okay, we have tomorrow, but it looks like it might rain. My feeling is very good and I’m confident in all corners. It looks like I’m ready to fight for the win in the race. The race is always difficult. Alvaro and Rinaldi and Jonny are very strong at this track. We will see but we will keep fighting.”

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