World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu 'not happy' with 2025 BMW in opening practice at Phillip Island and 'feels like I'm riding on ice'

The Turkish star was fifth fastest after FP1 and FP2 and ended day one eight tenths down on pacesetter Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati).

Razgatlioglu was the first non-Ducati in the top five, with Bulega leading the way from Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven Ducati), Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati).

The first race was set to take place on Saturday at 05:00 GMT and Razgatlioglu will be hoping for a better feeling with his ROKiT BMW M1000RR after admitting he didn’t feel comfortable on the 2025 bike.

Ulsterman Jonathan Rea is absent after suffering fractures to his left foot following a crash on the Pata Maxus Yamaha in Monday’s test.

Razgatlioglu said: “We know all the very Ducatis are strong here, for me the biggest problem is that we are not fast like last year, we are worse than last year, we are trying to find a way,” said Razgatlioglu.

“It’s very strange because I don’t feel confident on the bike, I feel like I’m riding on ice, we’re trying everything and still not finding anything. I did two laps with Bulega, but he is so strong.

“I see him riding comfortably but I am really fighting on the bike. Normally I am not very strong here, I know, but this year compared to last year feels completely different.

“I don’t know, we will see this weekend, I will try to fight for the podium but how many laps I don’t know.”

Razgatlioglu sustained a broken right index finger in a training accident, which forced him to miss the winter test at Jerez in Spain last month.

The double WSBK champion crashed at Turn 4 on Friday and survived a near-miss at Turn 10 as he pushed for a time.

“I’m not happy because the bike is not working, I’m not fast like last year; last year we were faster than this year, and the bike now is not working after we changed the chassis, it is completely changed, not turning, not stopping, not gripping, everything is changed,” Razgatlioglu said.

“I’m not happy, I hope we find something to fight for the top five because I don’t think fighting for the top three is possible, maybe top five because it looks like things are going very bad.

“I’m always riding at the limit. I crashed today and end of the day I almost crashed again in corner 10, the same, I lost the front, but I was able to put my knee more and save it.

“We will see, a very hard day for me today and tomorrow we will try to improve something, and I hope we do.”

Phillip Island has never been one of Razgatlioglu’s strongest tracks and he has only claimed one win Down Under, which he achieved in 2020 with Yamaha.

He dominated during his debut season on the BMW last year, winning 18 races in total, including a record streak of 13 consecutive wins on his way to securing the world crown.

The Superpole race on Sunday is at 02:00 GMT with Race 2 at 05:00 GMT.