Toprak Razgatlioglu’s 2026 teammate? Our MotoGP insiders provide crunch verdicts

The expert verdict on what Pramac Yamaha should do with their second 2026 race seat has arrived.

The signing of Toprak Razgatlioglu has kickstarted the rider market.

Razgatlioglu will leave the World Superbike Championship and represent the Yamaha satellite team in their 2026 MotoGP rider line-up.

But who will his teammate be?

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Pramac currently run Jack Miller, whose contract expires this year. And Miguel Oliveira, who has a deal for 2026.

But could they opt to replace both riders and appoint a second newcomer?

Our writers provide their verdicts...

Peter McLaren: Jack Miller is rumoured to have offers from World Superbike but for me he deserves another year on the M1. Other than Fabio Quartararo, he's the only rider to have shown real speed with the Yamaha this year.

Even if his race results haven't backed that up, he's still the second Yamaha in the MotoGP standings.

Moto2 title leader Manuel Gonzalez - who, like Toprak, is also a former Yamaha rider - was rumoured to be on Pramac's radar even before his impressive MotoGP debut with Trackhouse at the Aragon test.

Gonzalez could well be a star of the future but Miller's feedback and previous experience at Honda, Ducati and KTM is probably more valuable to Yamaha at this time - especially with a V4 in the pipeline for 2026 and new 850cc to create for 2027. 

Quartararo has only ever raced a Yamaha and if they sign another rookie alongside Toprak it would leave only Alex Rins with experience of another MotoGP bike.

Miller joining Yamaha's Suzuka 8 Hour team will also go down well in Japan. 

Miguel Oliveria's injuries mean he hasn't had a proper chance to show what he can do on the M1 yet, but with Toprak now confirmed someone will have to make room and it's rumoured there is a clause in his contract. 

Before Oliveira's Aragon test debrief, the Pramac press officer told the media we could only ask questions about the test, shutting down talk about next year. If Oliveria's 'two-year' deal was safe there would have been no need to do that. 

Instead of being confirmed alongside Toprak, Yamaha's announcement duly concluded: "Further details regarding the 2026 line-up of the Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Team will be communicated in due course."

Alex Whitworth: The question of Pramac’s second seat for 2026 feels like one that has been in the asking for a while by now and it’s still not especially either what will or what should happen with it.

The most sensible choice is to just keep Oliveira – he has a contract for next year and breaking it would likely be quite messy.

But Oliveira’s best finish this year is a 14th. You can excuse it with the fact he missed four races through injury, but it is also true that the Portuguese rider has rarely looked like a rider who can consistently challenge at the front of MotoGP races since he last won at Barcelona in 2021 on the factory KTM.

If the decision was made to replace Oliveira, Manuel Gonzalez is the clear choice, since neither Tony Arbolino nor Izan Guevara in the Pramac Yamaha Moto2 team are particularly excelling this year.

Gonzalez also has a MotoGP test under his belt now, and it seemed to go quite well. It would even be a reunion of sorts for Gonzalez and Yamaha, the Spaniard having raced an R6 in  WorldSSP before moving to Moto2 with the Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp in 2022.

As such, Gonzalez is a talent that Yamaha knows and his test on the Trackhouse RS-GP showed Yamaha that he has the potential to make the step up to MotoGP quite smoothly.

Gonzalez, then, is the clear choice to replace Oliveira – if they choose to replace him. Which, I think, they should refrain from for a while longer to give the Portuguese a proper run of races post-injury.

Jordan Moreland: For me, they've got to keep Miller. He has thrived at Yamaha since joining them at the start of 2025, and it feels like he has really ingrained himself into the culture of the factory and the project. 

Whilst Oliveira has been unlucky with injury, I don't think he has been good enough to keep his seat ahead of Jack. Oliveira's time at RNF Aprilia and Trackhouse was very underwhelming, considering the good job he did at KTM. 

However, it has been a similar story at Pramac so far for Oliveira; he has been the slowest Yamaha, and it is fair to say that the factory would have expected more from a five-time MotoGP race winner.

As Yamaha has rewarded Miller to spearhead their factory effort at the Suzuka 8 Hours, that to me indicates how much they appreciate his efforts. 

Despite him being on a one-year deal, I do think he'll be retained by Yamaha and we'll see him and Razgatlioglu alongside each other at Pramac in 2026.

Derry Munikartono: Following the Razgatlioglu announcement, both Pramac and Yamaha are facing a major headache regarding the second seat. In my view, Oliveira and Miller remain the leading contenders for a seat alongside Toprak. But here’s the catch...

From a performance perspective, Miller is the obvious choice. The Aussie has already shown strong adaptability in transitioning from KTM to Yamaha, consistently emerging as the second-best YZR-M1 rider behind Quartararo. However, Miller is on a one-year contract that expires at the end of this season. In contrast, Oliveira has a more secure two-year deal running through 2026. Yet, his slow adaptation to Yamaha bike and his injury history work against him.

My verdict? Pramac and Yamaha should do whatever it takes to retain Miller over Oliveira. He’s the quicker, fitter rider - and exactly what Yamaha needs alongside Razgatlioglu next season.