Yamaha’s last Superbike world championship dates back to 2009, when Ben Spies triumphed, bringing the first title in production derivatives to Iwata. The House of the three tuning forks had to wait until 2021 to celebrate again… with a wheelie on a single wheel. The stubble it has become the trademark of Toprak Razgatlioglu, 2021 SBK world champion with the R1.
The curtain fell on the 2023 World Superbike season in Jerez de la Frontera and, with the end of the championship, a chapter came to an end. Last act of the show staged by Toprak and Yamaha, who tried to leave his bike as the winner until the last corner. Only track limits decided for the Turk, who fought hard against his main rival for the title, Alvaro Bautista. It wasn’t all easy for the Spaniard, who had to deal with Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was so determined to bring the title back to Yamaha that he tried everything possible to stop the Aruba.it rider’s progress.
The feat did not succeed and, after four intense years with Yamaha, Razgatlioglu embraces a new project in 2024. We will have to wait a little longer to see the Turk on the track with BMW, the team for which he will race next year. Yes, because Yamaha has not given consent to test the M1000RR in the Jerez tests, scheduled today and tomorrow and which will already see the first debuts.
Toprak’s debut on BMW, the big bet for 2024, will be highly anticipated. Many have called him “crazy” for choosing a project that has left more than a few people perplexed until now. However, the Turk’s new challenge is interesting and he is ready to make the Monaco brand grow even further, to return to winning as he did with Yamaha.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pata Yamaha WorldSBK
It was in Yamaha that he had an explosive debut, stopped only by a technical problem at Phillip Island. Even in this case, after an entire career spent in the Kawasaki orbit, the Iwata company’s bet seemed like a gamble, a move that could burn him out. Instead, a year after his debut on the R1, Razgatlioglu fulfilled his world championship dream, interrupting Jonathan Rea’s hegemony and becoming one of the most popular riders in the entire Superbike paddock.
Now the R1 will “rest its front”. We will never see them again stubble which have become the signature of the Turk. That bike is now in the hands of Rea, a six-time world champion who takes up Toprak’s baton and will try to continue on the path he followed. Be careful though, because if Razgatlioglu’s intuition is right, we will start to see the front tire of the M1000RR “stressed” by the circus maneuvers of the 2021 world champion.
Toprak’s bet begins in December, with the first BMW tests that will finally give us the first answers. It will still be early to understand what he can do, but we will have a taste of what 2024 will be in just over a month. Right choice or not? Only time will tell, but we can only trust a talent like Toprak…
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