Catalunya GP: Toprak Razgatlioglu between SBK nostalgia and a new challenge, on Quartararo's path

In Superbike he achieved many fine results, and in MotoGP? Toprak Razgatlioglu focused on the new challenge at the Catalan GP.

Painful nostalgia? In a sense, that’s the right phrase for Toprak Razgatlioglu who, while fully focused on the tough MotoGP challenge, certainly hasn’t forgotten his recent past in the Superbike World Championship. Also because Montmeló, the venue of the 6th event of the 2026 Motorcycle World Championship, is one of the tracks where he collected many significant results between 2021 and 2024, both with Yamaha and BMW (last year the Catalan track did not host WorldSBK). But he also admits there’s something to change: it’s necessary to follow Fabio Quartararo’s work more closely, which proved more effective especially last weekend at Le Mans. In this GP in Barcelona, in fact, the 29-year-old from Alanya will use the very setup of Yamaha’s factory team Frenchman.

"I really like this track, even though it’s difficult because the grip level is usually very low," said Toprak Razgatlioglu ahead of the Catalan GP. Let’s recall his Superbike results: two second places in 2021, another podium in 2022, three second places in 2023 (with Yamaha), two wins and a third place in 2024 (with BMW). Now everything changes. "It will be my first time with a MotoGP bike," stated the Turkish Pramac Yamaha rider. There’s also a touch of nostalgia: "I have great memories of my Superbike successes; I hope to collect good memories with Yamaha in MotoGP as well," Razgatlioglu said. He also took a look at what the brand’s benchmark, Fabio Quartararo, is doing. "His setup worked much better than ours; maybe we need to try something different," admitted the #7 rider.

"We’re moving in a better direction, especially with Toprak," commented Gino Borsoi, who sees encouraging progress inside the box. "Changing your riding habits and adapting to a completely different style isn’t easy for Toprak, and there will still be tough moments to face, but Barcelona could represent another small step forward."

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