Toprak Razgatlioglu’s supervisor Kenan Sofuoglu says “there are groups that need” the Turkish rider in MotoGP subsequent 12 months regardless of holding a BMW World Superbike deal to the tip of 2025.
The 2025 MotoGP rider market has kicked into life in current weeks following Ducati’s bombshell announcement that it might be bringing Marc Marquez into its manufacturing unit workforce.
That begun a sequence response of strikes, beginning with Jorge Martin signing for Aprilia, and has been adopted with Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini penning KTM offers, whereas Marco Bezzecchi additionally strikes to Aprilia.
Elsewhere, it appears to be like possible 2020 world champion Joan Mir will stick with Honda for 2 extra years – as per Motorsport.com experiences – and Pramac appears to be edging ever nearer to a Yamaha transfer in 2025.
Within the coming weeks, a lot of the 2025 grid will possible have fallen into place.
So, the place does Razgatlioglu match into the equation?
Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Workforce
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs
The Turkish celebrity has simply been WSBK’s greatest draw in recent times, as he lastly ended Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki’s stranglehold on the collection in 2021 when he denied the Ulsterman a seventh successive title.
Aligned with Yamaha on the time, rumblings persevered of Razgatlioglu shifting to MotoGP with the Japanese producer.
Razgatlioglu examined the M1 at Jerez early final 12 months and was round a second off the tempo of Yamaha’s take a look at rider Cal Crutchlow on the Spanish Grand Prix venue. It was a major sufficient take a look at for Yamaha’s high brass to be in attendance, however the underwhelming lap instances – albeit with little time to adapt to the bike – solid some doubts.
Hopes of a 2024 MotoGP transfer had been all however ended when Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis informed the media in Austin final April that, with the marque unlikely to have a satellite tv for pc squad for the next season, it couldn’t exchange an skilled hand in Franco Morbidelli with a rookie in Razgatlioglu.
In Might of that 12 months, the Turkish rider signed a take care of BMW in WSBK, saying on the time: “Whereas there was a possibility in MotoGP, I didn’t really feel the identical reference to the MotoGP bike that I’ve with the Superbike.”
Now, in June of 2024, Razgatlioglu’s identify has grow to be hooked up to MotoGP once more.
“We’ve got a two-year take care of BMW and every part goes very properly,” his supervisor Sofuoglu informed Motorsport.com’s OTT platform Motorsport.television. “It is going so properly that Toprak has began to have critical desires about MotoGP. Toprak’s robust efficiency is attracting a number of curiosity from the MotoGP groups.
“With these two elements mixed, Toprak began to say ‘I would like MotoGP now’. The groups additionally need Toprak. To this point every part is nice. However we now have to respect our settlement with BMW. In my conferences with BMW, I informed them that Toprak desires to go to MotoGP after the work he has carried out.
“BMW has not but given us a transparent reply. If BMW involves us and says ‘we wish to preserve Toprak, we are going to honour our settlement’, we are going to respect that. I do not wish to clarify the phrases of the settlement an excessive amount of, we now have the chance to go away.
“Nevertheless, we now have by no means been within the mode of ‘let’s break the settlement, let’s go some other place or do different issues’ in any settlement we now have made. So if BMW says ‘OK Toprak, we won’t forestall you, if you wish to go to MotoGP, you’ll be able to go subsequent 12 months’, then we are able to go to MotoGP.”
Sofuoglu went on to say that “there are groups that need Toprak. There have been negotiations”.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pata Yamaha WorldSBK, Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Workforce WSBK
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs
In current weeks, Honda has been rumoured to have made a proposal to Razgatlioglu. That appears unlikely to return to go now, with Honda agreeing a brand new two-year contract with Mir, whereas Luca Marini and Johann Zarco have already got offers for 2025.
Honda may change course with the second LCR seat, particularly arrange for a Japanese rider, although this has been unshakeably in place since 2018. And at this stage, swapping out Takaaki Nakagami for Razgatlioglu makes little sense for a marque in a rebuilding part.
Razgatlioglu confirmed to Motorsport.com that Yamaha is a producer with which negotiations have been held with. It’s but to announce Fabio Quartararo’s team-mate for subsequent 12 months on the manufacturing unit squad, although for a lot the identical causes as Honda, Yamaha changing a confirmed grand prix winner in Alex Rins for a rider outdoors of the MotoGP ecosystem doesn’t appear logical.
Ought to Pramac certainly grow to be a Yamaha satellite tv for pc associate, having an enormous identify like Razgatlioglu in its workforce colors would reduce the blow of shedding championship chief Jorge Martin and the possibility to battle for titles subsequent 12 months leaving Ducati will definitely deliver within the short-term.
Razgatlioglu, understandably, is eager for a MotoGP transfer to occur sooner reasonably than later. At 27, whereas not previous by any stretch of the creativeness, the window is closing for him to make the step over.
With time, there’s little doubt that Razgatlioglu may become a powerful grand prix racer. However the stage is such in MotoGP now that point just isn’t one thing any recent rider has anymore, not least one with the load of expectation on their shoulders.
Razgatlioglu’s ability on a Superbike has created many spotlight reels throughout his time in WSBK, and he’s now doing one thing that can solely be an excellent factor for that collection in the long term.
The Rea/Kawasaki domination years, whereas having robust moments, did drag after some time. Ducati’s conquests of the title within the final two years (with Razgatlioglu runner-up on the Yamaha) have gone hand in hand with its domination in MotoGP, the Italian marque annexing trophies on the highest stage. That deserves immense credit score, however competitors is one thing any racing fan craves.
And WSBK this 12 months has had that in spades. Razgatlioglu at present leads the standings by 21 factors after 4 rounds and 6 race wins, doing so on a BMW package deal that has struggled for a lot of years in quite a few high palms to be anyplace close to as aggressive because the Turkish rider is displaying it to be.
MotoGP is having fun with its personal purple patch in 2024. Trying past this, it’s laborious to see a case the place MotoGP wants Razgatlioglu greater than he desires it.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Workforce
Picture by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs
