The wait and the disappointment
There was great curiosity at the beginning of this season to see what the impact of Toprak Razgatlioglu in MotoGP would be. The Turkish champion came from three titles won in Superbike with two different manufacturers – Yamaha and BMW – and with a superstar status that was yet to be proven among prototypes. The sceptics doubted his chances of adapting to such a different bike and – at least for the moment – they were right. Also due to the huge difficulties shown by the Yamaha M1, the Pramac team rider struggled even to place in the points zone in the first 12 rounds of this season and currently languishes in 21st place in the world championship standings.
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Of course, this year the plan devised by Yamaha and Pramac for Toprak was that of ‘simple’ learning: to learn as much as possible about MotoGP in view of a 2027 season characterized by less powerful bikes (850cc displacement instead of 1000), with a bit less aerodynamics and especially with Pirelli tires, instead of Michelin. This last detail is by no means secondary since Razgatlioglu achieved all his countless triumphs in Superbike precisely with the tires of the Milanese company. For a racing animal like the Turkish #7, however, consistently finishing among the last in the race is not proving to be a pleasant experience.
From “winner” to last
“I always say that I have never taken the easiest path – Razgatlioglu said during a long interview with the Spanish site AS – for example, I have never ridden a Ducati in Superbike and everyone knows that Ducati is one of the best bikes. I have always had to learn on a slightly slower bike and in the end I won the championship. This makes me feel better because I am always fighting and that is very important. Now I am in MotoGP and Yamaha is trying to improve. We all know that Yamaha is a very strong brand and I think it will soon become more competitive again. But this moment is very difficult for me because I am a winning rider. I came to MotoGP and now we find ourselves in the opposite situation“.
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“When I watch TV and see that my name is last it is very difficult – the Turk added, with great sincerity – When I return to the pits now I start looking for my name from the bottom. In Superbike I always looked straight ahead because I knew I was there, while this new reality is proving to be very tough. There are really bad weekends and sometimes I lose motivation. It’s normal; we are riders. But we will see what happens in the future“. The feeling is that 2027 will really be the key year for Razgatlioglu’s future in MotoGP: if even with the new technical regulations the Turkish champion does not see concrete progress in results, his adventure in the top class could already come to an end after just two seasons.
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