Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, who swept all the races at Balaton Park in the WorldSBK last season, is returning to the track for this weekend's Hungarian MotoGP. The Turkish star hopes that Yamaha's recent improvements will finally bear fruit.
Toprak: “I really love this track.”
Having failed to score points in Catalunya and then again in Mugello, where he hasn't raced since the Red Bull Rookies era, Razgatlıoğlu is eager to experience the stop-and-go Balaton system with a MotoGP machine.
Toprak said he loved the track, acknowledging that its small size might not appeal to every MotoGP rider, but that he enjoyed layouts like that. Recalling a very strong weekend he had there last year, the Turkish rider emphasized his happiness at returning.
Razgatlıoğlu stated that this time it would be a different kind of challenge with the MotoGP bike, noting that the track is a typical stop-and-go course and that he was curious to see how the bike would behave and how competitive it could be. He added that the most positive aspect was the progress made recently and the solutions that made him feel better on the bike.
Toprak finished last Sunday's race in 15th place, but was relegated to 16th after receiving a post-race penalty for exceeding track limits. He said his goal is to start the weekend at the level they reached at the end of Mugello and continue improving session by session, hoping to enjoy it as much as last year.
Miller: "This track will suit our engine much better."“
Mugello weekend, a challenging one for Yamaha, concluded with Jack Miller, ranked 15th, as the best M1 rider after Toprak's penalty.
Miller stated that he was looking forward to returning to Balaton, noting that the track's narrow and technical nature was the complete opposite of the last two Grand Prix, where the long straights had revealed shortcomings. He said that this season the YZR-M1 had become much more agile, especially in directional changes, and that Balaton possessed exactly those characteristics.
Borsoi: "It can be a very good benchmark."“
Pramac Yamaha team director Gino Borsoi also expects the narrow, stop-and-go track to be much more suitable for the new V4.
Borsoi said that Balaton could be a track where they could best utilize the strengths of their packages. He noted that it would be an important opportunity to verify whether advancements in areas such as chassis performance and electronics translate into competitiveness on the track, adding that the track's relative newness to everyone could balance the competition. He emphasized that, weather permitting, this track could provide a very good benchmark for evaluating recent developments.