Toprak Razgatlioglu to Copy Fabio Quartararo Set-up in Catalunya

Toprak Razgatlioglu plans to trial a Fabio Quartararo-style bike set-up during this weekend’s 2026 Catalan MotoGP after being impressed by the French rider’s performance with Yamaha’s latest V4 package at Le Mans.

Quartararo delivered Yamaha’s strongest result of the season by finishing sixth in the French Grand Prix, just 7.7 seconds behind race winner Jorge Martin. The result also highlighted a major performance gap between Quartararo and Yamaha’s other riders, including Alex Rins and Razgatlioglu.

Razgatlioglu finished 13th at Le Mans directly behind Rins, but the Turkish rider ended the race approximately 32 seconds behind the winner and admitted the difference compared to Quartararo remained too large.

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“We learned many things in Le Mans and in Barcelona we want to use that experience. Maybe we will also try some different set-up directions because Fabio’s set-up was clearly working much better than ours,” Razgatlioglu explained.

The reigning WorldSBK champion admitted he has started analysing in detail how Quartararo is extracting stronger performance from Yamaha’s V4, particularly in cornering sections which he currently considers his biggest weakness.

“Fabio did an incredible job and we don’t have the same pace as him. I’m trying to understand why because we need to improve the bike like Fabio,” he added.

According to Razgatlioglu, the biggest difference appears during the turning phase in the middle of corners. He believes his braking performance is already reasonably competitive, but he continues to lose significant time when changing direction.

“We lose a lot of time during turning because I’m using a different set-up compared to the other riders. But in Catalunya we will try something closer to Fabio’s style. If I like it, maybe we will keep it,” he said.

Razgatlioglu also confirmed that he followed Quartararo in switching back to Yamaha’s previous front wing specification at Le Mans after feeling the bike became more stable while maintaining lean angle under braking.

Although Yamaha appears to be moving in a more positive development direction, Razgatlioglu admitted he is still struggling to fully adapt to the riding position and ergonomics required by modern MotoGP machinery compared to WorldSBK bikes.

“I still feel like I’m sitting too high and the front feels low. The feeling is strange because it’s not my natural style, but I need to adapt because MotoGP bikes are built like this,” he explained.

Unlike Le Mans, which represented a completely new challenge for him, Razgatlioglu arrives in Catalunya carrying strong experience at the circuit after previously securing multiple WorldSBK victories in Barcelona.

“I have very good memories here from my Superbike victories. Of course, I hope I can start making good memories with Yamaha in MotoGP as well,” Razgatlioglu said.