Toprak Razgatlioglu in crisis in MotoGP: "A real disaster"

In Germany it was an extremely tough weekend for the reigning SBK champion, and the summer break will do him good to recharge his energy, especially mentally.

He was used to winning and always being on the podium in the Superbike World Championship, but with his move to MotoGP, Toprak Razgatlioglu is facing a completely new reality. Getting used to it isn’t easy, and the last three Grands Prix (Brno, Assen, Sachsenring) have certainly been quite frustrating for him: only 3 points in total.

He had only raced at the Sachsenring during his Red Bull Rookies Cup days, so he had to adapt to something essentially new, without managing to find either the setup or the riding style to be effective with his Yamaha M1. In terms of results (seventeenth in the sprint race and fifteenth in the main race) he was the worst of the Yamaha riders.

The three-time Superbike world champion ended the German Grand Prix with his spirits decidedly low: "I didn’t have fun - reports Crash.net -. I did my best, but it was a very difficult race. I finished fifteenth only because other riders crashed; for me it was truly a wasted weekend. The only positive is that next year, when I come back to the Sachsenring, I’ll know what I need."

Razgatlioglu is grateful to Yamaha and the Prima Pramac team for their work; everyone is trying their utmost, but there hasn’t been any significant progress, and the tire factor is also a constraint: "We haven’t improved," he explains. "In particular, I haven’t improved in the second sector. The main problem is that every race weekend we use different tires. This has destroyed my motivation. I had adapted to the other tires, then when we get here, we use completely different ones again. On one side we have good grip, on the other nothing. It’s very difficult."

The Michelin tires are not easy to understand and exploit; even MotoGP riders more experienced than him struggle—let alone someone in their first year in the class: "The other riders know the track," he adds, "the tires, they know how to ride. For them it might be a bit easy, but for me it’s a real disaster because I would never have expected something like this."

Toprak is banking heavily on 2027, the year when a new technical regulation will come into force and there will also be a new tire supplier that he knows well. Obviously, we’re referring to Pirelli, which has been the sole supplier in the Superbike World Championship since 2004 and will cease to be at the end of 2026, to be replaced by Michelin. The Turkish rider hopes the future MotoGP tires from the Italian company will help him.

In the Brno test with the 850cc Yamaha, he had encouraging feelings, but it’s too early to judge. Clearly, for 2027 his goal is to be much more competitive and to prove he’s up to a championship like MotoGP. He will have to do his part, but having a top-level Yamaha will also be vital. With the 2026 M1, it’s hard to prove anything.

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