“Maybe not 2027” but Toprak Razgatlioglu still working on Turkish MotoGP

A return to Turkiye is on the cards for MotoGP, but not in 2027, Toprak Razgatlioglu thinks.

MotoGP has raced in Turkiye before, back in 2005-2007 when the race was held at Istanbul Park, both 990cc races being won by Marco Melandri, while Casey Stoner won the only 800cc race there in 2007.

These were unattended by Razgatlioglu, though, who also missed the WorldSBK race there in 2013 because he was racing a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race at Silverstone.

“I didn’t watch because at that time I was really young,” Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was nine-years-old when MotoGP last visited Istanbul, said in an interview with Crash.net ahead of the 2026 British Grand Prix.

“My brother went to Istanbul to watch the MotoGP. 

“In Superbike, 2013, I had a race in the UK. I raced in Silverstone, in Rookies Cup, Istanbul Park was Superbike.”

Istanbul Park also hosted Formula 1 back in the 2000s, and through to 2011. F1 returned there during its Covid-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons, and announced this year a new five-year contract with the circuit that will begin in 2027. 

Pramac Yamaha rider Razgatlioglu had spoken at the end of April about plans to bring MotoGP back to Istanbul in the future.

By now it seems likely that the race will not happen in 2027, but a return to Turkiye for the first time in over 20 years could still happen before the end of the decade, Razgatlioglu thinks.

“We have this plan [for a race at Istanbul Park], maybe the future,”.

“Looks like maybe not next year, but it’s possible 2028. We will see. 

“We are working about this. 

“It’s possible, because now Formula 1 has signed already, I think five years contract – next year Formula 1 comes back again to Istanbul Park for the race. 

“MotoGP, why not? 

“We are talking about this with Dorna, and the federation, and also the government. We will see.”