{"id":538302,"date":"2026-03-13T18:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538302\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T18:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T18:34:09","slug":"pavesio-praises-razgatlioglus-rookie-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/538302\/","title":{"rendered":"Pavesio praises Razgatlioglu\u2019s rookie weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a tough start to competition for the all-new V4-powered YZR-M1. Yamaha bid farewell to their trusted inline-four machine at the end of 2025, having not managed to get quite back to the top of the timesheets after the machine\u2019s last championship win in 2021 with Fabio Quartararo<\/a> (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). They\u2019ve chosen a new direction \u2013 and as a show of serious commitment, one year before the new regulations in 2027 \u2013 and field the new V4-powered YZR-M1 this season.<\/p>\n

Thailand did have its positives, headlined by the fact that both Quartararo and his teammate Alex Rins<\/a> did score points. Jack Miller<\/a> (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) was actually the last Yamaha finisher, but the Australian has been there or thereabouts with Quartararo a few times in pre-season. The other rider taking on this new challenge in the project is three-time WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu<\/a>, and for him there\u2019s even more to learn: a whole new bike, the switch to Michelin tyres in MotoGP AND a project finding its development direction to move forward.<\/p>\n

Despite that mountain, the Turkish rider is most definitely impressing. And that\u2019s not just us saying that \u2013 Paolo Pavesio, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, emphasized Razgatliouglu\u2019s debut as one of the highlights of their weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I watch the four MotoGP riders, for sure everyone has given their 100% but I think Toprak, already being so close to the others \u2013 and that\u2019s the only benchmark he has \u2013 I think he can go home reasonably happy,\u201d Pavesio said in his post Thai-GP debrief, as he answered questions from the TV and media in lieu of the riders. \u201cI think for Toprak the journey has been pretty interesting. After so many years being so successful in SBK, I think he was looking how he could make the MotoGP closer to a Superbike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve supported him because we thought it was correct for him to have that opportunity, and finally as you could see in Sepang \u2013 he had the winglet in the back, the handlebars are becoming more normal. And he\u2019s learning that to ride in MotoGP you need to do certain things in a way the other 21 riders are doing. But it\u2019s part of the journey, I\u2019m happy because he\u2019s got it himself and we\u2019re helping hm a lot with all the people around him \u2013 Giribuola and Dovi as well as spending quite some time with him. So that\u2019s for sure, if I can talk of the positive touches to the weekend that\u2019s something I\u2019d like to mention.\u201d<\/p>\n

It may not have been for points, but the numbers also tell a pretty positive story. Razgatlioglu finished his first GP less than nine seconds off Quartararo. His fastest lap in FP1 was a 1:31.109, which became a 1:30.165 by the conclusion of Q1. That was less than a tenth off Rins, just over three tenths behind Miller, and only six tenths off Quartararo \u2013 who has a built a serious reputation for his one-lap pace.<\/p>\n

Now we head for a new venue for everyone on the grid, both rookies will be eager to see how they can gain from it. Home hero Diogo Moreira<\/a> (Pro Honda LCR) will be aiming to back up the points he did score on his debut, and Razgatlioglu to add some to the board. Tune in to see both in action next weekend as MotoGP returns to Goi\u00e2nia!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a tough start to competition for the all-new V4-powered YZR-M1. Yamaha bid farewell to their trusted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85,83],"class_list":["post-538302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}