Toprak Razgatlioglu remains without a MotoGP top ten, but his mid-race Aragon pace "shows we are finding our way back".
Toprak Razgatlioglu may have been in 15th place on lap 12 of Sunday’s Aragon MotoGP, but only the five riders at the front of the field were lapping faster than the Pramac Yamaha rookie.
Razgatlioglu – whose lap time was also the best by a Yamaha in the grand prix – then backed it up by being the seventh-fastest rider on track on lap 13, eleventh on lap 14 and eighth on lap 15.
Unfortunately for the Turkish star, he then started to struggle with front tyre degradation, plummeting from eleventh fastest on lap 17 to just 19th next time around. After briefly overtaking Luca Marini, Razgatlioglu was re-passed by the Honda rider before crashing on lap 21 of 23.
Nevertheless, Pramac team director Gino Borsoi saw Razgatlioglu’s mid-race charge as evidence that the reigning WorldSBK champion is moving closer to his target of a maiden MotoGP top-ten finish.
“He was also riding well until the final stages… at one point even lapping faster than the top ten,” Borsoi said.
“This shows that we are finding our way back to the performance we had a few races ago.
“Unfortunately, he reached the limit of the front tyre and, being a little more aggressive in his riding and carrying a little more weight than some of the other riders, this becomes more difficult to manage at the end of the race.
“The crash came as a consequence of that tyre wear, but overall I think Toprak did a good job this weekend.
“We take the positives from Aragon and I'm convinced we can get back to the positions we were fighting for before and continue building from there.”
Razgatlioglu’s best MotoGP finish so far this season is eleventh place, in both the Hungarian Grand Prix and Brno Sprint.
Meanwhile, Borsoi is already looking forward to seeing Razgatlioglu back on Pirelli rubber for the new 850cc era in 2027.
"He knows the tyres, so he has a great opportunity next year because he can show the speed straight away," Borsoi told MotoGP pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard at Aragon.
"This season is a tough season, everybody knows our bike is still under development. But I'm quite sure Toprak can be in a different condition straight away next season."
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