It seems like Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is the rider to beat in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship after Friday’s action at the Autodrom Most. It’s a circuit that ‘El Turco’ has eight wins at already and it looks like he’s in a strong position to add to that during the Motul Czech Round as he mastered tricky conditions on Friday to claim P1 in both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2.

Razgatlioglu's outright pace caught the eye in both sessions, which both featured pre-session rain before the track dried out throughout the sessions, but also his consistency in FP2; it was impossible to complete a long run in FP1 due to four red flags being shown. Razgatlioglu’s fastest time across both sessions was a 1’31.318s as he topped the times ahead of Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) in second and Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) in third.

In Free Practice 2, ‘El Turco’ completed one long stint of 17 laps to compensate for the lack of long runs in the opening session, with Razgatlioglu showing incredible consistency. All 17 laps were in the 1’31s or 1’32s bracket, with 12 times in the 1’31s and five in the 1’32s. No other riders at the front of the field put in such a long stint, with Sam Lowes doing a longest of seven, Alex Lowes completing nine and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), feeling the effects of his FP1 highside, in fourth also completing nine laps.

Discussing his Friday, Razgatlioglu said: “I think this was my best Friday this year. I’m really happy. The bike isn’t so bad. The rear has a good set up now. The weather’s been a bit difficult. We did a good lap time. We did a race simulation, almost 20 laps, and it looks like every lap was in the 1’31s so a good time. It looks like we’re ready to race. The lap time is good and impressive, but the race is always different. You need to keep the rear tyre and also, in the last laps, you need more grip. It’s very difficult. It looks like we’re strong, but we don’t know what the weather will be like tomorrow. I need to win; I really miss P1!”

Tyre wear is something Razgatlioglu struggled with at Assen, languishing down the order especially in Race 2, but the Turkish rider was convinced that would be less of an issue this weekend, partially due to Pirelli opting for tyres from the harder range of the allocation. The softest tyre, the SC0 soft, is limited in use to Tissot Superpole and the Tissot Superpole Race, with the SC1 medium and SC2 hard the long-race tyre options.

On the tyres, Razgatlioglu stated: “Assen is completely different because the style and setup are different. The tyres are also different. Here, everyone will all use the same tyre because of the SC1 rear tyre. Tyre life isn’t a problem because it’s easy to choose the SC1. We did a good lap time. Tomorrow, we have Superpole, and the weather is a little bit strange. It’s not only for me; it’s for all riders. If it rains, everyone is riding in wet conditions.”

Most has been a successful circuit for Razgatlioglu in the past, with the Turkish superstar already claiming eight wins out of a possible 12 at the Czech venue. He looks like he’ll be able tp add to that tally this year, and two or three wins would give him a bit of WorldSBK history: he would equal (with two wins) or pass (with three victories) Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) for the second-most wins in WorldSBK history.

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