Toprak Razgatlioglu “not going to be good enough” in MotoGP rookie season

One WorldSBK rider thinks that Toprak Razgatlioglu will be doomed to fail in MotoGP in 2026, at least in the eyes of those watching on.

Alex Lowes arrived in WorldSBK in 2014, the same year as Razgatlioglu’s second and final Red Bull Rookies MotoGP Cup campaign and his first season in the European Superstock 600 class.

A couple of years later, after the Crescent team he rode for dropped Suzuki’s GSX-R1000 to pick up Yamaha’s returning factory World Superbike effort, Lowes was drafted into MotoGP for a couple of races to replace Bradley Smith at the Tech3 Yamaha team.

A temporary fill-in ride is as close as any WorldSBK rider has got to moving to MotoGP since Ben Spies went as World Superbike Champion in 2010, but Razgatlioglu’s 2026 transition to the premier class of grand prix racing puts an end to that wait.

The prospects of the Turkish rider in MotoGP have long been debated. His ability in WorldSBK became overtly clear, as he stormed to three world titles in the last five years and won 78 races between 2019 and 2025. 

But moving at the age of 29 gives him little time to adapt – teams and factories are likely to be less inclined to be patient with a rider who might have only five years of racing left, compared to someone like Pedro Acosta or Fermin Aldeguer who might have 10 or even 15 years left in their respective careers.

Despite Razgatlioglu’s abundant motorcycling ability, Lowes thinks that the odds are stacked against him in his move to MotoGP, and considers it impossible for the Pramac Yamaha rider to satisfy the expectations of the grand prix paddock, partly because of the uncompetitiveness of his YZR-M1 machinery which hasn’t won a race since 2022 and was on the podium only once in 2025.

“The reality is he’s [Razgatlioglu] going there on the worst bike, and that’s just the facts,” Alex Lowes told Crash.net at the Motorcycle Live show in November 2025.

“For example, where would Marc Marquez finish on the Yamaha? 

“People have short memories in our game, but the reality is: Marc Marquez, on an uncompetitive bike, was not competitive. 

“So, Marc is the best rider we’ve got in our generation of MotoGP. He couldn’t make an uncompetitive bike competitive. 

“I think expectation is going to be the worst thing for him because Fabio [Quartararo] is fantastic, has been World Champion, suited the Yamaha since he first got on it, on a privateer bike he exceeded everyone’s expectations straight away, so his style has suited it straight away. 

“I think Toprak’s a very talented rider, in terms of his feel, but he’s got a lot to adapt to and he’s up against it on that bike. 

“I think it’s hard to have expectations. 

“Whatever he does, it’s not going to be good enough, in my opinion. 

“There will be people quick to put him down, but really it’s going to be tough, it would be tough for anyone. That’s my opinion.”

Lowes clarified that he does not think the bike will be the only limiting factor for Razgatlioglu in 2026, but that a period of adaptation is normal for any rider moving between championships, even a rider with “something a bit more special” than most.

“I also think if you put Toprak on Marc Marquez’s bike, he wouldn’t beat him next year,” Lowes said.

“If you put Marc Marquez on that BMW Superbike, you don’t beat Toprak next year. – because it’s a lot different, they have to adapt and get used to it. 

“I do genuinely think – that’s being quite close with my brother, riding with people, riding with my little time on the MotoGP bike, being around a lot of people, being around Johnny [Jonathan Rea], the best ever World Superbike rider – Toprak’s got something a bit more special than I’ve seen, [but] there’s so much more that goes into it in MotoGP: the people around him, the chance he gets, the mentality he can keep if it doesn’t go well, the tyres. 

“So many question marks. 

“I just hope he has a good go next year, keeps his confidence up, and then when it changes tyres and the rules change a bit, it’s a bit more of a level chance to see if he can do well. 

“I think it’s so technical now that an uncompetitive bike – it doesn’t matter who you are.”