| Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team with Rizla rider Toprak Razgatlıoğlu continued his strong start to the 2020 FIM Superbike World Championship campaign, with a podium finish in a scorching Race 1 at the Circuito de Jerez. Meanwhile, teammate Michael van der Mark’s hopes of a first podium of the season were dashed following a technical issue, which eventually saw him retire from the race.
With Yamaha riders locking out the second row of the grid in Spain, Pata Yamaha’s Razgatlıoğlu made a lightning start, as he rose from fifth to second on the approach to Turn 1. For the proceeding laps, the Turkish rider hounded the rear of Jonathan Rea’s Kawasaki, as the front four began to pull away from the rest of the field.
Razgatlıoğlu continued to battle for the lead with Rea and Scott Redding, as the rising track temperatures saw the riders focus on tyre conservation in the second half of the 20-lap race. The Phillip Island race winner continued to fight with the front-runners, holding off the charging Chaz Davies to cross the line in third place, collecting more important championship points for his title challenge.
Having clocked the fastest time in Saturday morning’s FP3, as well as a strong performance in the Superpole, Van der Mark was looking forward to a good result at the 4.428 km circuit, but a technical problem forced the Dutchman to retire on the eighth lap.
GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team’s rookie duo for this season, Garrett Gerloff and Federico Caricasulo, showed promising pace in practice and lined up inside the top 15 on the grid for the Jerez opener.
Gerloff made a good getaway and climbed three places to 12th in the early stages, going on to take the chequered flag in a solid 11th position. Teammate Caricasulo dropped back from his 13th place grid slot, but was making a promising comeback before crashing out from 11th at the left-hander of Turn 3.
Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSBK Supported Team’s Loris Baz, who had made an excellent start to the weekend with the fastest time on Friday, was just a few bike lengths behind the podium places throughout the race and held on to take a deserved fifth-place finish in front of many factory entries.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: P3
Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team
“Today was very tough for all the riders, it was incredibly hot. I was fighting for the win, but it was just out of reach because in the closing stages the bike began to slide a lot. I tried my best and finishing third means we can take good points for the championship. I was fighting with Chaz Davies in the closing stages, but I managed to hold him off with some defensive riding. After practice I wasn’t completely happy, but it’s good to know that we can fight for wins even after a difficult Friday, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Michael van der Mark: DNF
Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team
“This morning and in the Superpole I had a good feeling on the bike, we had improved my R1 a lot compared to yesterday. Straight away in the race I was missing top speed, I could feel something was wrong, and unfortunately in the end we had a technical failure. Tomorrow’s another day though, we can still improve in a few areas, including under braking, but I’m confident of a good result.”
Garrett Gerloff: P11
GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team
“Finally, it feels good to be racing again and to see the chequered flag being waved. I was hoping to be slightly higher up, there were a few guys ahead of me that I could see I was closing the gap to, but in the end I couldn’t quite catch them. I had a really strong bike though, but with the heat it makes things a lot more difficult to manage and maximise. We collected some good data and it was great to get the first race out the way so I can focus on getting into a better rhythm.“
Federico Caricasulo: DNF
GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team
“I had a good start but then I made a small mistake in the first lap, which dropped me to 15th. Afterwards I then made some overtakes and got up to 11th position and I was happy with the feeling on the bike. Unfortunately, I made a mistake trying to catch the group in front of me, but I will learn from this to improve for tomorrow. I’m more confident for the next races, I think with the pace I could be inside the top six or seven.”
Loris Baz: P5
Ten Kate Yamaha WorldSBK Supported Team
“Not quite a podium yet, but I’m still happy. We have to take the most points we can without making mistakes, and fighting with factory guys is always good. The qualifying was OK, I felt there was a bit more left but it still wasn’t a bad position. In the race, I struggled at the beginning, it took me three laps or so to be on the pace. The bike was sliding a lot and I had to stop using the rear brake, which is unusual for me. Then I started to come back towards the front three, but I couldn’t find a way to pass. In the slipstream the tyres overheated quite a lot and I dropped to fifth, but overall I’m happy with the job we’ve done today.”
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