Razgatlioglu at the BMW presentation: “Bautista? When he was racing in Honda no-one mentioned him”

A world of discovery awaits Toprak Razgatlioglu, after the rider officially joined BMW at the end of last season but was not permitted to ride the M1000RR until the December tests.

“I’m feeling positive”, begins Razgatlioglu as he looks ahead to the 2024 season. “I’m riding a new bike for a new team and a different brand, it’s all new for me. After four years with Yamaha, I’ll have to adapt to this new situation. I need more tests. We’re focusing on next week’s sessions where I’ll be able to try some new things but I mainly need more time.”

“The bike is a lot quicker along the straight”, comments the Turk as he draws a comparison with the Yamaha, “it has real power but we need to sort corner entry because we’re not strong there. I’ve had to adapt to a bike that is totally different to the Yamaha but we’re not far off, we’re fast but not 100% yet. We have work to do and I still need to adapt to the bike, while the team needs to understand my style. This is important in order to have a complete package. The feeling is positive but I need more time on the bike.”

Razgatlioglu and the 2024 title fight

As for his chances of being a title contender, the Turk explains: “I’ll need two or three races to really adapt to this new bike. We don’t have many test days before we go racing. Yamaha denied me the chance to start right away, so I started very late and the weather wasn’t the best. I haven’t forgotten what they did – I won the 2021 title for them but when I signed with BMW they prevented me from testing the bike. I had to wait until my contract with Yamaha officially ended, not great.”

Toprak touches on the current world champion: “Bautista is at an advantage with respect to me and Rea, because he’ll continue with the same bike. When he was in Honda no-one mentioned him, and then he got faster once back at Ducati. He’s staying at Ducati to try and win another title – he doesn’t have many years left in terms of his career. My philosophy is different – I like the BMW brand and I’ve never seen BMW win the title. This is my dream.”