In four incidents, defending Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu missed important points: Yamaha team manager Paul Denning still sees the season as a success.
Toprak Razgatlioglu was 72 points behind Alvaro Bautista at the end of the past WSBK season. Although Razgatlioglu was even able to win one more race than in his world championship season, the Yamaha rider clearly failed to defend his title.
All in all, four incidents were responsible for this, in which the Turk missed important points.
The start of the season was not ideal for Razgatlioglu and Yamaha. With Aragon and Assen, there were two courses on the calendar at the start of the season that Razgatlioglu had struggled with in the past. The collision with Jonathan Rea in Assen caused the first zero.
Two events later, Razgatlioglu rolled out at Misano with a defect. It turned out that the same cause as the failure in Barcelona in 2021 again shut down the Yamaha R1 (dead battery). In autumn, Razgatlioglu suffered two falls in Magny-Cours and in San Juan, which cost important points in the final sprint for the World Cup.
Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista was more consistent than Toprak Razgatlioglu
World Champion Alvaro Bautista, on the other hand, made just one mistake on his way to the title when he crashed at Donington. In Magny-Cours the Spaniard was brought down through no fault of his own.
Bautista missed the podium in only three other races, but finished every race in the top 5. In all other races, the Ducati rider finished on the podium.
These consistently good results from Bautista and Ducati prevented Razgatlioglu and Yamaha from defending the title.
Yamaha team manager Paul Denning still classifies the 2022 WSBK season as a success.
“Last year we celebrated 13 wins with Toprak and this year it was 14 wins. Alvaro made only one mistake all season when his front wheel collapsed at Donington and he retired. As a team and as a driver you have to be in every be perfect in that respect,” says the Yamaha team manager.
Yamaha is aiming for more perfectionism in the 2023 Superbike season
“Not being perfect cost us the chance to keep the championship open until Phillip Island,” Paul Denning told WorldSBK.com.
“Alvaro deserves the title. All in all, we were missing something to win the championship. But it was still a very successful season.”
The Yamaha manager was amazed at the increase in lap times compared to the previous year.
Although there were no major changes, significantly better times were driven than in the 2021 WSBK season.
“We have to acknowledge that the level of Bautista on the Ducati and Jonathan on the Kawasaki was much higher than last year. With the exact same Pirelli tires and the same rules, the pole position times and also the duration of the races were pulverized. Sometimes we were a second quicker,” Paul Denning marvels.
Great hopes of defending the Superbike title after Magny-Cours
The points left behind due to small mistakes annoy the Yamaha team manager.
“Toprak was leading when he and Jonathan collided at Assen. That didn’t help as both difficult events were made worse by a retirement,” he recalls of the mixed start to the season.
Razgatlioglu made up a lot of points in the summer. Especially in Donington things went well for the defending champion. More victories followed in Most.
“After Magny-Cours we were only 30 points behind. That could have been even better had it not been for the problem that caused Toprak to crash in the first race, which he ended up finishing eleventh,” recalled Paul Denning.
The disillusionment in the Superbike World Championship came in Barcelona
“We were almost there, but then Barcelona followed, where Alvaro got the treble,” notes the Yamaha team manager. The three Bautista victories in Barcelona were a kind of preliminary decision in the World Cup fight.
In the remaining races, Razgatlioglu was no longer able to turn the World Cup.
“Toprak drove exceptionally well all year,” says Paul Denning, but still sees a little room for improvement: “There are a few small things he can improve in preparation for the races when things are not going so well. He knows that.”
But the team can still improve, says Paul Denning: “We have to keep working on the development of the motorcycle. Yamaha is working very hard, but we as a team can also improve on site. If the opponents are that strong, then you can afford no weaknesses.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu leaves Superbike teammate Andrea Locatelli behind
Teammate Andrea Locatelli was clearly overshadowed by Toprak Razgatlioglu in his second WSBK season.
In fifth place overall, the Italian showed a largely unremarkable season. Locatelli only finished in the top 3 twice. Once he benefited from the crash between Razgatlioglu and Rea in Assen.
Should Locatelli have shown more?
“It’s difficult for any driver to compare. I think it’s like making comparisons with Marc Marquez. It’s always very difficult,” commented Paul Denning.
“He had a slump in the middle of the season. It was due to some technical things and his confidence. We brought something to Indonesia that pushed him forward and helped him find his confidence back,” the Yamaha team manager is attempting an upward trend to recognize.