SBK, Razgatlioglu - BMW: mission impossible has truly begun

2024 has officially begun, and with it the challenges of the latest Superbike season. First and foremost, for Toprak Razgatlioglu, the rider who has undoubtedly made the most courageous switch – leaving the “sure thing” that is Yamaha to climb aboard the “gamble” that is the BMW, a potential winner, or disappointment. A challenge that clearly excites the Turk, his first message as a BMW rider coming across loud and clear right from the outset – “We’re not far off, we’re getting there”. Bold words, from a rider determined to get the best out of this new adventure.

2023 closed with a bang in Superbike, because while many were immediately able to get a taste of their new steeds after the last race - Jonathan Rea included - during a two-day test at Jerez, others like Toprak were left watching from the sidelines. And all for contractual reasons, with Yamaha taking the decision to have the Turk respect his contract to the last, something that – to use a euphemism – Razgatlioglu did not appreciate. "I’ve always respected Yamaha and so I would have expected the same from them” commented the 2021 champion, albeit in the calm way we’ve come to expect, after Jerez, where his activity finished with Sunday’s Race 2.

Toprak - BMW: encouraging first steps, despite the weather

And so the debut with BMW, his new family, didn't come until early December. A new start that was highly anticipated by both Razgatlioglu himself, keen to climb aboard the M1000 RR, and by paddock staff and fans, their interest piqued by a pairing that represents a real question mark heading into the 2024 season. On paper, winning right off the bat with the BMW looks to be almost a mission impossible for Toprak, who must get to grips with a bike that was unable to reach the podium last season, a step backwards with respect to 2022, when Scott Redding and Garrett Gerloff scored four Top 3 finishes.

Redding and Gerloff are now team-mates on the satellite Bonovo team, while Michael Van der Mark stays put on the factory team, together with new star Razgatlioglu. And after a long wait, the latter was finally able to test the German bike. The stage for the first dance was Portimao, though the weather played a part, to the extent that the Turk had to change his plans, riding a half day on Sunday, and completing just eleven laps, and a half day on Monday, for a total of nineteen laps, as he sought a dry track and good sensations.

Sensations that were not immediately ideal, a technical problem causing the M1000 RR to smoke through Turn 1, but that appeared to improve lap by lap. There was even a crash through Turn 5 as the Turk sought out the bike’s current limit. "I braked hard, the rear lifted and then started to slip, and I crashed”, explained the rider. Despite these setbacks, Toprak admitted that the feeling is "Very good, after four years with the Yamaha this bike is another world – the engine brake works really well". But the obvious strong point of the M1000 RR is the engine, something that Razgatlioglu was often lacking in his battles with Alvaro Bautista.

At Portimao, for example, where the Turk was beaten to the line by the Spaniard, with Bautista able to pass him on the outside having exited the final turn more efficiently and thanks to the difference in horsepower. “I finally feel like I have a lot of power to manage, and I also felt it out of the last corner, and after the hill, where I realised I still had more to unleash.”

Aerodynamics and more for Razgatlioglu to test

There are a variety of aspects for the Turk to understand, like the aerodynamics package, in which BMW has invested heavily, as demonstrated by the front appendages, that make the M1000 RR the closest road bike – in this respect – to a MotoGP. "The wings don’t seem to be a problem for now, actually they help, especially when you don’t want the bike to wheelie. They also seem to help during corner entry, another aspect I really like about this bike”.

After his first outing with the BMW at Portimao, the Turk moved straight on to Jerez, but once again the weather was not on his side, with the second of the two test days cancelled altogether. But this did not deter BMW, with the team deciding to try and ride the very next day at Valencia, a session that finally brought a little sunshine for Razgatlioglu and Van der Mark.

Little emerged from these tests in terms of lap times, but the Turk’s smiles on social media combined with the countless stoppies he was making seem to be a clear indication that this marriage has got off to a strong start. A pairing that, until Phillip Island, will remain the biggest unknown on the Superbike grid, because, while on the one hand we have BMW’s recent negative experiences, on the other hand there’s the undisputed talent of Razgatlioglu, an expert when it comes to winning straight out of the box with a new bike.

Razgatlioglu and his sweet memories of Phillip Island

In 2020, in fact, he was able to power the R1 to victory already in race 1 in Australia, in a season that served as a prelude to 2021, when he secured his first world title. It’s difficult to imagine that what happened four years ago at Phillip Island could happen again now, because the BMW is not at the same level, without forgetting two more details – in 2020 the Bautista-Ducati pairing had recently dissolved (before reforming in 2022), and the switch from Kawasaki to Yamaha was much less of a leap than going from the current R1 to the BMW, where Toprak’s acrobatic skills and deadly braking may not find the same fertile ground that they have in the past.

That said, we definitely shouldn’t write off Toprak and the BMW before they even begin, after all, there is more room for improvement with this particular pairing than almost any other on the grid. The increasing commitment of the manufacturer – as demonstrated by the hiring of a top rider like Toprak – is combined with a talented rider who is fully mature. "We won’t stop until our project is successful" confirmed BMW Superbike boss, Marc Bongers, during the course of 2023. It remains to be seen whether the wait might be shorter than folk inside and outside the BMW factory walls perhaps expect.