In the early summer of 2023, WorldSBK star rider Toprak Razgatlioglu shocked the motorcycle world with his surprising move from top team Yamaha to backbencher BMW. Almost a year later, the Turk, who is currently leading the Superbike World Championship, could cause the next big sensation. Because a sensational transfer to MotoGP for the coming 2025 season is slowly taking shape and is already the declared goal of ‘El Turco’.
“We have signed a two-year contract with BMW and everything is going really well at the moment. So well that Toprak has started to seriously dream about MotoGP,” revealed Razgatlioglu manager Kenan Sofuoglu on Monday in an interview with Turkish colleagues from ‘Motorsport.com‘ and added: “Toprak’s good performances have attracted the interest of several MotoGP teams.”
Razgatlioglu manager reveals: Toprak wants to be in MotoGP as early as 2025!
Razgatlioglu is currently delighting the entire Superbike paddock, having been competitive and capable of winning with the BMW M 1000 RR since the first race weekend on Phillip Island. At the second WSBK event of the current season in Barcelona, he took the first BMW victory in a main race in almost eleven years, and most recently in Misano he became the first BMW driver in history to win all three weekend races. The logical consequence is the lead in the World Championship: after four of twelve race weekends in 2024, Razgatlioglu is 21 points ahead of Nicolo Bulega and 24 points ahead of defending champion Alvaro Bautista.
The BMW adventure has already proven to be a complete success, and the world championship title seems within reach in the first year of the collaboration. It would therefore be all the more surprising if Razgatlioglu were to leave the Munich-based motorcycle manufacturer after just one season. And yet that is exactly what is now becoming more and more realistic. “In my meetings with BMW, I told them that Toprak now wants to move into MotoGP after his previous performances for them,” says Sofuoglu.
The German manufacturer recently made it clear in a statement that Razgatlioglu is also under contract with them for the 2025 and 2026 WorldSBK seasons and will drive for them. But in a certain way, BMW’s hands may be tied, because there seems to be an exit clause in the Turk’s contract. “BMW has not yet given us a clear answer. If BMW comes to us and says they want to keep Toprak, we will respect our agreement,” says Sofuoglu, but also adds: “I don’t want to go into the contract details too much, but we have the option to leave.”
Will Toprak Razgatlioglu use BMW’s exit clause? Into MotoGP as soon as possible!
Although Razgatlioglu’s manager subsequently emphasised again that his rider would not leave the Superbike World Championship prematurely against BMW’s will, staying seems to be ‘Plan B’ at best. The 2021 WorldSBK champion himself told ‘Motorsport.com’: “I’ve started thinking about MotoGP about 90 percent of the time. We’ll see if it will happen this year or not until 2026. I’m currently talking and meeting with teams, even if there is no official agreement yet. If it happens, we will switch to next year, otherwise we’re thinking about 2026. If everything goes according to plan, the situation will be resolved in two weeks.”
Razgatlioglu had repeatedly flirted with a move to MotoGP in recent years, and in 2022 and 2023 he also carried out several private tests with Yamaha. At the time, however, a move fell through because the Japanese preferred Franco Morbidelli. Razgatlioglu responded by leaving for BMW, but revealed last November that the door to the premier class was not closed. In fact, he now even says: “I have a two-year contract with BMW, but I want to move to MotoGP in 2025. I can very well understand that BMW is not happy about this. But for my career, it would be best to go to MotoGP as soon as possible.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu: In talks with three MotoGP manufacturers
The big question now, of course, is which team Razgatlioglu could fulfill his dream of the premier class with. “Kenan is talking to three different manufacturers,” he reports, without wanting to name any names. However, it seems quite obvious which three MotoGP constructors these are. KTM has already fixed its driver lineup for 2025 and Aprilia can only offer places on the customer team Trackhouse Racing, where they hope for continuity with Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez after the changes in the factory team.