WorldSBK Assen, Gerloff-Razgatlioglu incident: the riders’ reactions

While Gerloff and Razgatlioglu chose not to comment post-race, the two Yamaha teams have since analysed the data together with their respective riders, who have now voiced their thoughts on what happened at turn one in race 2.

An incident that immediately took out Jonathan Rea’s main rival for the title, or rather Razgatlioglu, causing him to drop 37 points behind the Kawasaki #1 in the standings. Fortunately, #54 soon has another opportunity to fight back during the Most round, taking place next weekend.

Gerloff devastated: "Toprak paid dearly for my mistake"

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After the event, Garrett Gerloff comments: “I'm devastated and I can only apologise to Toprak and to Yamaha for today. I got a good start from the third row of the grid, I felt the contact in turn one, but I didn't realise it was Toprak until I looked back. I'm sorry for him, as he paid a big price for my mistake, but also for Yamaha, who have worked tirelessly to mount a championship challenge. I can only apologise to both, although I am well aware that this won't change the outcome”.

Razgatlioglu: "I don’t understand why Gerloff came up the inside"

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And a response was quick to come from Razgatlioglu, in the form of a press release, the rider naturally disappointed and angry: “In the second race, Garrett made a bad mistake, I am not sure why he tried to do hard braking like this in the first corner - I was surprised and I only feel angry because we lost so many points for the championship. At the start, I passed Rinaldi into the corner but it was not “easy”, it was difficult to stop my own bike so I cannot understand why Garrett arrived on the inside. In Most I will only be looking to fight for the win, I am not looking at championship points any more. This weekend, maybe I just had some bad luck, but we fight hard again for the next race”.

Translated by Heather Watson

MotoGP, Rea and Petronas Yamaha: no contact for 2022