Fastest Overall Razgatlıoğlu Makes the Most of Friday Free Practice in Czech Republic

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu topped today’s overall combined Free Practice timesheets with a fastest lap time of 1'32.367 as Round 8 of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship got underway at Autodrom Most.

Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK’s #55 rider Andrea Locatelli finished in seventh position, around half a second from his teammate at the chequered flag, as both riders focused on crucial data collection for race set-up and assessing Pirelli’s new SC1 rear tyre options for this weekend.

This morning’s damp and drizzly Free Practice 1 hampered the WorldSBK field’s installation laps at the Czech circuit, with many riders opting to “wait and see” in the hope for a dry line to appear later in the session – rather than take a risk. Razgatlıoğlu, who now relishes the wet conditions, was positive about his highly-competitive pace in both wet and dry conditions at the end of the day.

Free Practice 3 at 9:00 CEST tomorrow will provide another chance to assess the competition – and possible race outcomes – before Superpole qualifying at 11:10 and the first points to play for in Race 1 at 14:00.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: P1 – 1'32.367

“I’m very happy to come back to Most circuit again, because I like this track! Today for me was not bad in the wet condition! Good confidence and I am feeling my R1 is very good – and after we are riding in dry conditions, just I needed one more lap in FP1 for a good lap time! Then in the second session we were working for a good bike set-up, because we are using the hard tyre. Same for everyone, I think – we are using the SC1 rear. Looks “not bad” but still we are working for tomorrow. Just I need some improvement in the last sector – looks like my pace is not bad, but if we can improve this, my feeling will be much better but in general I am happy. Today, we started fast because my feeling was very good and I have good confidence on the R1 – also in the wet after nearly four years! Dry or wet now, it’s ok!”

Andrea Locatelli: P7 – 1'32.884

“Here in Most it was a bit tricky with the weather especially in FP1, but anyway in the afternoon we were working well – I had a really good feeling with my R1 and also we tried to understand the feeling with the rear tyres, because we have two different SC1 options to choose from this weekend. We need just to look a bit at the data to prepare the bike for tomorrow, but honestly, the feeling is good in the dry – we just need to make some small adjustments to be able to improve. It’s important to qualify well tomorrow to start on the first two rows to be competitive in Race 1. If we can find a good way this evening to prepare everything, I think we can do a really good job.”