Toprak Razgatlioglu: 'Somebody else decided we did not win'

Toprak Razgatlioglu feels he achieved his 'dream' of a perfect sweep of three WorldSBK wins in one weekend despite being controversally stripped of the Superpole race victory; 'For me, I won the race'.
Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea, French WorldSBK race2, 5 September 2021
Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea, French WorldSBK race2, 5 September 2021
© Gold and Goose

Toprak Razgatlioglu thought he had completed a p🔴erfect Magny-Cours triple to extend his World Superbike ch🃏ampionship lead to 13-points over Jonathan Rea.

However, tipped off by Rea, Kawasaki successfully protested the result of the Sunday morning Superpole outing when on-board footage revealed Razgatlioglu had strayed ove💟🍷r a white line and onto the prohibited green area during the final lap.

Whilst t♒he images showed that the Turkish star had indeed breached track limits by skimming the🔜 green paint at Turn 10, in order for a penalty to be given the offending rider must also fail to show a 'clear disadvantage' compared to a rival who stays on track during a last lap battle.

That ju🅠dgement was more controversial since Rea then overtook Razgatlioglu at the following corner. It would seem reasonable to suggest that losing a position directly after exceeding track limits fits the criteria of a 'clear disadvantage' and therefore no ꦗpenalty should be applied.

Razgatlioglu went on to snatch the race lead and victory back from Rea when he re𓂃-passed the Northern Irishman in the final corners.

However, after Sunday's second race had finished, the morning race result was revised with Rea declared💃 as the winner and Razgatlioglu demoted to💛 runner-up.

“This was my dream – to make three wins together in one weekend, and I am really happy. Okay, somebody else decided w🅘e did not win the Superpole Race but for me, I won the race and I enjoy this fight a lot," Razgatlioglu said.

"We did everything we can so also big thanks to my team because they did 𓆏an incredible job.

"I am not looking at the championship because I am🧸 always focused every race for win and for good points, and also this race, I try only to win. Finally again we made a great win in Race 2 and I am really happy today.”

The changeꦚ in the Superpole result means Razgatlioglu's advantage over reigning champion Rea has been reduced to seven points.

"The protest after the Superpole Race was very disappointing, as was the process of administrating the protest and the very late timing of the sanction notice, but in the end we know what we achieved🐬, our competꦿitors know what we achieved and we move on," said Pata Yamaha team principal Paul Denning.

Meanwhile 3-4-4 results mean Razgatlioglu's team-mate Andrཧea Locatelli is fourth in the world championship, ten points ahead of Rea's team-mate Alex Lowes.

Denning confirmed that the young Italian'🥂s form means he will be staying alongside Razgatlioglu in 2022. "We didn’t make a formal announcement yet, but he will be with us next year," Denning said.

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