WorldSBK at Portimão: Chance for Toprak Razgatlioglu to break the victory record.

Portimão. With the seventh round of the 2024 FIM Superbike
World Championship (9th to 11th August) taking place at Portimão,
Portugal, BMW Motorrad Motorsport enters the second half of what has
been a very successful season so far. BMW Motorrad factory rider
Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) arrives at the Algarve circuit leading the
riders’ championship by 64 points, with BMW also currently atop the
manufacturers’ standings. Across the six race weekends and 18 races
held so far this season, Razgatlioglu has claimed 12 victories on
his BMW M 1000 RR, including the last ten in a row. He has also
secured pole position four times. At Portimão, ‘El Turco’ has the
chance to match or even surpass the existing record of eleven
consecutive wins.

The Portimão ‘Autodromo Internacional do Algarve’ is well-known to
all four BMW Motorrad factory riders, Razgatlioglu and Michael van der
Mark (NED) from the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, as well as
Garrett Gerloff (USA) and Scott Redding (GBR) from the Bonovo action
BMW Racing Team. The track, often referred to as the ‘Algarve
rollercoaster’ due to its layout, is a favourite among WorldSBK
riders. Additionally, it is one of the tracks where winter testing is
conducted. In 2021, van der Mark achieved a milestone here, the first
victory since BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s factory comeback in WorldSBK.

In Portimão, WorldSBK will deviate from its usual schedule. The
Superpole qualifying on Saturday and the Superpole race on Sunday will
both take place in the afternoon, while the two main races are
scheduled for early evening (18:00 local time).

Quotes ahead of the Portimão round.

Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “When
the season started in Australia in February, the goal was to win
races. However, we did not expect the first half to be this
successful. Now we have a new goal, to win the world championship. We
will all continue to work hard to achieve this. Because every race
weekend is a fresh start, our competitors are very strong, and nothing
can be taken for granted. Additionally, we want to compete with the
entire squad for the top positions, and the recent races have shown
that our riders, teams, and bikes have the potential to do so. Now
we’re heading to the Algarve rollercoaster in Portimão, and we’re very
excited about the weekend ahead!”

Garrett Gerloff (#31 BMW M 1000 RR, Bonovo action BMW Racing
Team): “I’m really excited to come back to Portugal. It
should be an exciting weekend with a different format, having the
early evening races. Last year was really successful for myself and
the team so I’m hoping to show up and repeat the same thing. So I’m
looking forward to start the weekend.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu (#54 BMW M 1000 RR, ROKiT BMW Motorrad
WorldSBK Team): “I am really happy to come back to Portimão
because it is one of my absolute favourite tracks and I really enjoy
to ride there. It is like a rollercoaster. Normally, I am really
strong there but now with BMW, we are on another level. But we will
see at the weekend. I always try more than 100 percent because we need
three wins again there. I am happy and the team is very happy,
everyone is working really hard and now we will see what we can do at Portimão.”

Scott Redding (#45 BMW M 1000 RR, Bonovo action BMW Racing
Team): “I’m looking forward to Portimão. It’s an iconic
circuit with a lot of challenging corners, something that we like.
It’s great for the fans as well and the races are in the evening,
which is new to all of us so I’m definitely excited for this race
weekend in Portimão.”

Michael van der Mark (#60 BMW M 1000 RR, ROKiT BMW Motorrad
WorldSBK Team): “I am obviously very much looking forward
to Portimão. It is one of my favourite circuits and especially after
such a good end of the weekend at Most I can’t wait to go out in
Portugal. We know that the base of the bike is really good so we just
need to get ready for the races. It will be a different weekend with a
different time schedule, it is very interesting to race so late, so I
am looking forward to it and my hope and dream is to be on the podium
together with Toprak. To have two BMWs on the podium – that’s my dream
and that’s my goal.”