Toprak Razgatlioglu Unrecognizable in MotoGP: We'll Know in 2027 If It Was Worth It

In Japan, yet another negative weekend for the Turkish rider, increasingly frustrated with his situation: was it a mistake to jump to MotoGP in 2026?

This year it’s been impossible to gauge Toprak Razgatlioglu’s potential, something that isn’t particularly surprising and that many had predicted. The moment he decided to move to MotoGP by signing with Yamaha, he took the big risk of not being competitive. On one hand, he was aware of it, having seen Iwata’s results in recent years and knowing there was a brand-new V4 project to develop; on the other hand, he hoped that with work and talent there would, over time, be growth sufficient to give him respectable performances. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.

In the recent Japanese Grand Prix the Turk continued to struggle. He hadn’t raced at Motegi before, so he also needed to adapt to the track. Gino Borsoi, Prima Pramac Yamaha team manager, emphasized that Razgatlioglu managed to find an interesting race pace, not too far from Fabio Quartararo’s, and he considers the improvement made on Sunday a positive aspect in a weekend that ended with a disappointing seventeenth place, the same result he achieved in Saturday’s sprint race.

Toprak explained that he felt the same issue in Japan as well, especially in the early laps: the rear tire pushes a lot and he can’t brake the bike. He immediately finds himself having to ride on the limit, and only after six laps was he able to have a decent rhythm.

The three-time Superbike world champion is failing to adapt to the Michelin tires and to the characteristics of a Yamaha M1 that only with Quartararo shows occasional flashes that allow him to stay in the top 10. At Motegi, the 2021 MotoGP champion finished ninth in the Sprint and then went no further than twelfth in the long race. If someone like him struggles, imagine a rookie coming from the production-derived championship.

Razgatlioglu is particularly frustrated by the braking issues he’s encountering, which used to be one of his strong points in WorldSBK: “This is a very strange situation,” reports Crash.net, “because if you look at the other riders, they brake a little later, but their braking is smoother. I’m fighting with the bike and it’s difficult to maintain the same pace lap after lap. Fabio rides much better because he knows how to stop the bike; he has more experience than me with the Yamaha. I lose a lot; the front wheel often locks under braking and I need to learn how to use the rear tire. In the race I ride a little better, but this is not the reality for me.”

The Yamaha M1–Michelin tire combo is proving deadly for Toprak, who was determined to move to MotoGP after the two Superbike titles he won with BMW. With hindsight it’s easy to think he made the wrong decision, but we’ll only have a definitive answer in 2027. He is banking heavily on next year to prove he belongs in the top class. There will be new technical regulations and new tires from a new supplier (Pirelli). His hope is that Yamaha will put a competitive prototype on track that will allow him to achieve positive results. In 2027 we’ll understand whether enduring a 2026 of constant agony was worth it.

The alternative was to remain in Superbike by renewing with BMW or trying to win the title with a third different manufacturer. Honda had offered him the chance to do another year in the production-derived series, then make the jump to MotoGP in 2027. Would that have been the better path? Who knows… Toprak chose another one, and all we can do is wait to see whether he was wrong or not. Today, it’s normal to have doubts.