Toprak Razgatlioglu, Nicolo Bulega pace “very close” ahead of Misano WorldSBK Race 1

The Superpole session at the Emilia-Romagna WorldSBK saw the first two laps under the 1:32 barrier in WorldSBK history, the first from Toprak Razgatlioglu and the second from Nicolo Bulega who took pole position.

Bulega’s 1:31.618 put him over 0.2 seconds clear of Razgatlioglu at the end of Superpole, with Bimota’s Axel Bassani over 0.7 seconds behind in third place.

The Italian said that the lap time he achieved was “unbelievable” and unexpected.

“I feel very good,” Nicolo Bulega said in his parc ferme international TV feed interview.

“1:31.6 is an unbelievable time here in Misano, I did not expect to be so fast, so thanks also to my team.

“We improved a lot during the weekend. I hope to make another step for the race.”

For Toprak Razgatlioglu, while the difference between himself and his main title rival, Bulega, was substantial in Superpole, he expects the race pace to be close between them.

“With the first tyre I was not really happy because still we are working on the engine brake side, also yesterday and today – still I’m not really happy,” Razgatlioglu said in parc ferme after Superpole.

“But the second tyre I’m pushing more than 100 per cent.

“But, normally I’m not expecting this lap time, I’m also very happy.

“We’re very close with Nicolo [Bulega] and also the race pace is very close.

“We will see, I’ll try to do my best again like before.

“I hope we win this race because last year we did three wins [at Misano]. This year everything is different, I know, but I’ll try to do my best again.”

Bassani: Razgatlioglu “the only one that can help”

Axel Bassani gave the Bimota KB998 its first World Superbike front row in Superpole at Misano, something he said was thanks to the help of Razgatlioglu.

“It’s been quite a good lap, I enjoyed it,” Bassani said in his parc ferme interview after the session.

“I used the slipstream of Toprak [Razgatlioglu] because he’s the only one that can help me, he’s the best one.

“I did a good lap, turn six I lost a little bit the rear so I lost a bit of time but at the end the lap was not bad.

“Also, I’m happy about the work we are doing with the team. It’s special for us to do a front row here in the home of Bimota.

“I hope to do also a good race, and after we will enjoy.”