Despite Race 1 win, ‘El Turco’ grits his teeth for Balaton’s final day: "We did a good job but tomorrow will be harder"
The #1 enjoyed his 70th race win and 160th podium with an emphatic Race 1 win at the first Hungarian Round race in 35 years
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s inaugural race at Balaton Park Circuit was a triumphant start to the round for Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). He topped the podium, almost four seconds faster than the pair of Ducati Factory riders behind him including his main title competition Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). Not only did the win give him the title of being the first WorldSBK race winner at the circuit, but his net gain of five points over Bulega means his title lead has grown to nine points
STRONG START ON SATURDAY: “I did a lot of 1’39s laps, but the close guys had lots of 1’40.1s or 1’40.2s
Razgatlioglu won Balaton’s first WorldSBK Race in convincing fashion. He looked right in his element with Balaton Park’s tight, technical, heavy braking layout as he sailed ahead of the grid from pole position. While Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista did well to recover positions to join him on the podium, and they set strong lap times later in the race, it was too little, too late to catch the defending Champion.
On his Race 1 lap times and looking ahead to Sunday, Razgatlioglu said: “For me, the race started out easy, but when I was trying to manage the race in the last laps, I could feel the tyre starting to drop. I could manage because I had a big gap, and it was overall a good start before the two races tomorrow. I did a lot of 1’39s laps, but then I closed the gas a bit more and set many 1’40.1s or 1’40.2s laps because I had to manage the rear tyre. When I saw they were closing the gap I opened the gas again and saw lap times return down to 1’39s. We did a good job but tomorrow will be harder because we don’t know if it will rain.”
BRAGGING RIGHTS: “I’m really focused on winning the 1000th race”
While the Championship battle is first and foremost on the #1’s mind, Sunday’s Tissot Superpole Race is an important moment for World Superbike. After running its first race back in 1988, the Championship will celebrate its 1000th race at Balaton Park’s Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 local time (UTC +2). ‘El Turco’ stated his desire to be named winner of WorldSBK’s 1000th race; to him, he is especially fit to top the podium because he was the winner of the 800th and 900th races.
With his 2026 move to MotoGP around the corner, the sentimentality of this important commemorative race to the Championship’s history is not lost on Razgatlioglu, he said: “I’m really focused on winning the 1000th race. This race is really important to me because I won both the 800th and 900th races in WorldSBK. I need to win again here because this is my last year in the WorldSBK paddock, as next year I’m moving to MotoGP. I will try my best on Sunday!”
Can Razgatlioglu claim the glory of being named winner of the 1000th WorldSBK race? Tune in at 11:00 local time (UTC +2) to find out with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 65% off!
