Toprak Razgatlioglu remained at the bottom of the Friday MotoGP timesheets at the Red Bull Ring, but the Pramac Yamaha rider still made a substantial step between the two practice sessions. His best lap fell from 1m 32.363s in the morning to 1m 29.982s in the afternoon. Even so, he finished 1.6s behind KTM rider and session leader Pedro Acosta, while the fastest Yamaha, Fabio Quartararo, was 1.1s ahead. Razgatlioglu described the morning as difficult, but said the bike felt much better later in the day, particularly under braking.

The reigning WorldSBK champion is now using Quartararo’s data to examine the next part of the lap. He is working on how quickly he can lift the Yamaha from the corner and return to the throttle. Razgatlioglu said Quartararo picks the bike up “ten percent more” in some corners, a difference he considers significant for lap time. Quartararo’s Friday pace put him inside the top ten and secured direct access to Qualifying 2. Razgatlioglu, meanwhile, said the braking improvement was already clear but that the next priority was acceleration out of the turns, especially through the final sector.

The challenge is closely linked to the rear tyre used at the Austrian circuit, which has a harder construction. Razgatlioglu said he has adapted well to the front tyre, but still cannot clearly identify the rear tyre’s effective grip area. Instead, he is experiencing wheelspin, while he believes other riders understand the tyre’s behaviour better. He also noted that Quartararo remains quick on a used tyre, underlining the gap in extracting performance rather than simply setting one fast lap. Razgatlioglu expects further progress, but said he still needs more pace. His team-mate Jack Miller ended Friday in 20th place, only 0.033s ahead of Razgatlioglu.