Former rider and now politician and rider manager, Kenan Sofuoglu, declared at the last SBK event in Misano that championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu was negotiating to leave BMW, his current team, and accept one of the offers to move to MotoGP Next year.
Razgatlioglu has a two-year contract worth two million euros per season with the German manufacturer, which after the uproar caused by Sofuoglu’s statements, had to release a succinct official statement: “We are happy with the success that Toprak is achieving with us in the Superbike World Championship. We have a contract in place for this season and next (2026), and we will not fuel further speculation.”
BMW’s anger at the “games” of Toprak’s manager was notable and called the former driver to order, who spoke to colleagues from the Turkish edition of Motorsport.com to clarify some of his statements. “We have a two-year agreement with BMW and everything is going very well. It is going so well that Toprak has started to seriously dream of MotoGP. Toprak’s good performances are attracting the interest of MotoGP teams,” explains Sofuoglu.
“With these two factors combined, Toprak started to say ‘I want MotoGP now’. The teams also want Toprak. So far everything is going great. But we have to respect the agreement with BMW. In my meetings with BMW, I told them that Toprak wants to go to MotoGP after the work he has done”, he claims.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, Marc Bongers
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“BMW hasn’t given us a clear answer yet. If BMW comes and says ‘we want to keep Toprak, we will honor our agreement’, we will respect it,” he admits, before issuing an important warning: “I don’t want to explain too much about the terms of the agreement , we have the ability to walk away. However, we have never been able to say ‘let’s break the deal, let’s go somewhere else or do other things’ in any deal we’ve made , we won’t stop you, if you want to go to MotoGP, you can do it next year, then we can go to MotoGP.”
Despite this warning, Sofuoglu wants to keep an ace up his sleeve in terms of his contract with the Germans. “BMW has made all its plans for 2024 and 2025 in agreement with us. I respect that, and if they want us to stay, then we will honor our agreement and respect it.”
However, the intention is clear for the Turkish clan: “But if we agree and there are no problems, then we will go to MotoGP. There are teams that want Toprak. There have been negotiations. But in every meeting I said that if BMW gives us permission, we will go, otherwise we will not break our relationship with BMW’. Everything will be finalized in the next few weeks”, announces the former driver.
Razgatlioglu negotiates “with three MotoGP teams”
The Turkish driver himself spoke to the Turkish edition of Motorsport.com. “We make decisions together with Kenan. Naturally, I started thinking about MotoGP 90% right now. We’ll see over time whether it will be this year or in 2026. There are teams that I’m meeting and talking to,” he openly admits .
![Toprak Razgatlioglu MotoGP Jerez test with Yamaha](https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0oOEyEl0/s1000/toprak-razgatlioglu-test-motog-1.jpg)
Toprak Razgatlioglu MotoGP Jerez test with Yamaha
“But there is no official agreement yet. If it happens, we want to go next year, otherwise we are thinking of going in 2026. We leave everything in the hands of time, if everything goes as we want, the situation will be clear in two weeks “, he reveals. “We also have a two-year agreement with BMW and we want to go to MotoGP in 2025. So BMW is not happy and I can understand it very well, but for my career it would be better to go to MotoGP as soon as possible”, she urges.
For the moment, Toprak does not name the teams that are supposedly interested in signing him. “Time will tell, there is no clear information. We are only talking to MotoGP teams, it will be clear before the end of the year.”
After his farewell to Yamaha SBK last year, the Iwata team’s doors to MotoGP seemed closed, but some changes may have turned the situation around: “They are among the brands we are talking to. If they arrive with a good offer and a good project, it can be in MotoGP”, he admits.
“Kenan is talking to three different brands. In previous seasons I had offers from MotoGP, but they weren’t that serious. Now I’m wanted by several teams,” says the jewel of Turkish motorcycling and current World SBK leader in his first season with BMW .
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