The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship delivered astonishing action on Saturday at the Pirelli Portuguese Round with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) reigning supreme on Day 2, which would allow the Championship leader to extend his advantage and continue to add to his win tally in 2024, taking his 13th victory of the season – 11 of which in a row. It was a hard-fought win for the #54, battling hard with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and later Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) for victory.
Overall, it was a very positive Saturday for Razgatlioglu after suffering from some technical issues in the latter stages of running on Friday. In Superpole he would put together a brilliant time, claiming his 17th pole position after setting a fantastic 1’39.783 in the intense heat. This pole position would be crucial as the Turkish star crossed the line to take his 52nd win in Race 1, which would allow Razgatlioglu to equal Troy Bayliss in the fourth all-time spot. To celebrate his 52nd win, the #54 put on a homemade pair of wings on his back – continuing to add to his collection of celebrations.
Discussing the conditions in Race 1 and the chance to break create a new page in the history book, Razgatlioglu said: “The race was not easy because of the hot conditions and everybody was very strong and was trying to pass. Finally, we got the win, this is a very important win for me because it is 11 wins in total and this is a new record for me but I am just focused on the 12th win, I hope tomorrow I can get the Superpole Race win and we break the record. We will see, in general, today I am very happy and after the race, the celebrations were a little bit different today but tomorrow we will have a very good celebration if I win the 12th race.”
As the lights went out for Race 1, it was Lowes who claimed the holeshot, with Razgatlioglu dropping down to P3 early on. It was an intense fight with Lowes soon dropping to fourth and Razgatlioglu engaging battle with Petrucci for the win. It would take multiple attempts but the #54 eventually made a move stick with eight laps remaining. After ‘El Turco’ hit the front, the rest was history, crossing the line to win by 0.780s.
Speaking about his strategy for Race 1 and his battle with Petrucci, Razgatlioglu said: “At the beginning of the race I was not pushing but after the half-race distance, I started to push, but also Danilo was pushing hard and we had some fighting with him and after I passed him, I was just trying to continue to ride alone but he was pushing hard. Anyway, we had a good battle with him, he finished in third position and I think it was a very fun race today.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com