Alvaro Bautista has taken issue with Toprak Razgatlioglu being able to run rear wings in MotoGP, suggesting rule-bending has been at play.

Tail aerodynamics have been a part of MotoGP for several seasons now, since Ducati introduced its first ‘stegosaurus’ wings at the British Grand Prix in 2022.

Yamaha has been through several iterations of its tail aerodynamics, and its current set-up features a combination of the ‘stegosaurus’ elements with a dual-plane horizontal wing between the most rearward pair. 

However, because of Razgatlioglu’s height and the seat unit Yamaha was using to accommodate that on his YZR-M1, the rear aerodynamics were illegal for Razgatlioglu because of MotoGP’s maximum bike height rule.

As a result, Razgatlioglu spent much of the pre-season running without rear wings on his Yamaha. When he used them in Sepang, he found a noticeable improvement in his braking capabilities.

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“I tried [at the] end of the day the [rear] wings, but with the old seat, the little bit higher seat,” he said.

“I feel like the bike stops better on the brakes.

“These wings help a lot on the braking. Maybe tomorrow I will continue to use the wings, because they are really helping.

“But I need to change my style. On the brakes now, I’m not so bad. I am happy, getting stronger, but maybe I need to change the riding style.

“I need more corner speed. In Superbikes I was always stop-go.”

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Yamaha has now apparently been able to engineer a solution to the height issue on its YZR-M1 for Razgatlioglu in particular, whose M1’s in Buriram ahead of this weekend’s season opener are fitted with the rear wings.

To Alvaro Bautista, who for the past two seasons has spoken out against the minimum weight rules in World Superbike that he feels are there specifically to stop him winning, Yamaha’s finding of a solution to its height problem before the first round is not simply a manufacturer engineering a solution to a known problem.

Bautista was tagged in an X post from a Spanish fan, @Soy___Jorge, quoting a post from MotoGP journalist Mat Oxley mentioning Yamaha’s rear aerodynamics solution, which reads: “In SBK they sanctioned and still sanction @19Bautista [Alvaro Bautista and Toprak [Razgatlioglu] benefited from it.

“Now in MotoGP they’re helping Toprak again by homologating an aero that in theory couldn’t be done.”

Bautista responded to that post, saying: “Well, well… It was clear that to get to MotoGP, you had to have good results… Penalizing whoever it took to achieve them.

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“And now they keep helping… Oh well.”

Since MotoGP has no homologation rules on rear aerodynamics, it is still possible that Razgatlioglu will ride at the Thai Grand Prix without the tail wings, but, for a rider that is known, or at least he was in World Superbike, to like to lean on engine braking in the final part of corner entry, the addition of rear downforce – and therefore grip – is likely to be of particular benefit to his performance.

During the Buriram test, Razgatlioglu largely ran without the rear aerodynamics, but did complete some runs with the tail wings.

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