Toprak Razgatlioglu: ‘Everyone started to sing ‘Toprak, Toprak, I almost cried’

Toprak Razgatlioglu was victorious for the second consecutive WorldSBK round, after taking his BMW M 1000 RR to top spot in Race 2.

After a disappointing Superpole Race where he slid back from the front row to fifth, Razgatlioglu made swift progress in the other direction. 

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Razgatlioglu joined the lead group from lap one and never lost sight of the lead despite light rain falling for much of the 21-lap race.

When polesitter Alvaro Bautista retook the lead just after mid-race distance, the expectations were that he could begin to pull clear following his dominant performance in the Superpole Race.

However, Razgatlioglu had other ideas as he instead made a quick move before slowly pulling away.

Bautista did everything in his power to mount a late challenge, but with Razgatlioglu quicker than the reigning world champion in the most critical areas of the circuit, the Ducati rider was close to a mistake on the final lap as Razgatlioglu closed to within 6 points of the Spaniard in the standings.

After the race, many fans were chanting Razgatlioglu’s name: “Everyone started to sing ‘Toprak, Toprak’ and I almost cried; many people come to support me and not just from Turkey but from all of Europe,” said Razgatlioglu.

“The Turkish guys come and it’s family but it’s really important because I feel the power, so I needed to win this race to give them a present.

“I was just fighting for this. After the race, I was almost crying because of people shouting ‘Toprak’.

“Germany is close to Assen and a lot of people came from there; I’m happy for this and I think it’ll be bigger in the future.

“It’s good for the championship too with everyone enjoying it. It’s been a very special weekend for me to win here and with BMW.”