Toprak struggles to adapt to MotoGP requirements: 'lap time has not arrived'

The three-time World SuperBike Champion has not had the easiest of arrivals into Pramac Yamaha's V4 project and has expressed frustration at his lack of pace during pre-season testing in Sepang.

Yamaha's test was certainly not ideal for a newcomer to MotoGP as the Japanese manufacturer was forced to withdraw from the second day of testing due to safety concerns over their new V4 engine.

The team's bleak fortunes were further compounded when star rider Fabio Quartararo crashed out on the first day and is believed to have suffered a broken finger as a result.

Toprak's best time of the Sepang test week was a 1:58.326, a full two seconds down on the pace of the frontrunners, and seven-tenths off Alex Rins at the factory Yamaha team.

"I'm still trying to change my riding style," Razgatlioglu told the media at the end of testing, "We did not start really strongly. I'm also a bit angry because the lap time has not arrived."

"I expected a time of 1m57s, but I'm not doing 57s. I was just saying, I may see 57.7s, 57.6s, but today when I started, it was very difficult. [...] Also, my motivation is going down because I'm riding the same as before but the lap time is not coming. At the end of the day, I found the rhythm. But I also used two new tyres and did everything. I did only 58.3s, but the ideal lap time was 58.1s or 58.0s, but again not 57s.

“For me, it’s not easy to see your name so down when you look at the screen, especially after the superbike [success].

“But I'm trying to learn quickly. I hope we will come back. I don't know how but I'm trying to push every day.”

While Toprak has been keen to keep expectations realistic ahead of his MotoGP debut in Thailand later this month, his frustrations with where Yamaha are in their current development was evident.

This follows on from the rumour that Quartararo could be on the way out of Yamaha in a shock switch to Honda, a piece of news that will have inevitably destabalized parts of the team internally.