ROKiT BMW Motorrad’s Toprak Razgatlioglu picked up his fourth WorldSBK pole position on the bounce and fifth of 2024 at the Portuguese Portimao circuit on Friday.
The Turkish ace is amid a dominant run having won the last 10 races aboard the M 1000 RR machine and he put himself in the best position possible to extend that run in Portugal with an impressive qualifying effort.
Razgatlioglu’s time of 1:39.783s bettered Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes by 0.104s, with Barni Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci impressing in third, just 0.188s off of the pace to secure a front-row start for Race 1 in Portugal.
After taking his fourth pole position in a row and fifth of the year, Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK in parc ferme “I’m feeling really good. The bike balance is good I did a very good lap time.
“It’s just the last lap I did a very small mistake, the last sector especially I lost one tenth. But anyway, we did pole position again this is good, I’m happy for this.
“Now I’m just focussed on Race 1 because this is really important for me, I need another win. But we will see, this weekend is very hard because everyone is very strong and it’s very hot conditions.
“We will see, I’m ready to fight.”
Lowes was in high spirits after taking second in Superpole, saying “I’m happy with that. We need to be on the first two rows to give ourselves a chance to be in the fight.”
After securing his first front row start of 2024, Petrucci said “Finally, a good qualifying. Sincerely, I’m really happy since yesterday.
“We found a really good feeling with the bike, but since the beginning of the year my team is working really well.”
On a recovery charge from a monumental motocross accident earlier in the year, Petrucci added that “the only bad thing is my right arm that I completely have no power.”
Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega is Razgatlioglu’s closest challenger in the Riders’ standings, 64 points adrift of the Turkish rider and three and a half tenths behind during qualifying to secure fourth.
BMW had both its riders feature in the top five on the leaderboard after an entertaining Superpole session with Michael van der Mark posting the fifth-fastest effort aboard his M 1000 RR, 0.463s back from his team-mate.
Alvaro Bautista’s title defence aboard the second Aruba.it Racing Ducati continues to look like an uphill battle and the Spaniard could only place sixth in Superpole, over five and half tenths off of the ultimate pace set by Razgatlioglu.
There was an improved showing for the Pata Prometeon Yamaha squad, with riders Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea posting the seventh and eighth quickest times respectively.
Confirming BMW’s prowess around the undulating Portimao course was Bonovo BMW rider Garett Gerloff, who slotted himself into the top-10 with the ninth-fastest qualifying time, 0.688s off of Razgatlioglu’s leading effort for the German marque.
The top-10 was completed by GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider Dominique Aegerter, with the Swiss rider 0.722s back from Razgatlioglu’s pole time.
