Who should replace Toprak Razgatlioglu at BMW for 2026 WorldSBK season?

With Toprak Razgatlioglu on the way out of WorldSBK and BMW at the end of this year, the question of replacing him is a critical one for the 2025 rider market across both the World Superbike and MotoGP paddocks.

Several options are already off the table. Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani are both tied down at Bimota, Andrea Locatelli is secure at Yamaha, and arugably the most desirable rider in WorldSBK outside of Razgatlioglu, Nicolo Bulega, has confirmed an extension of his time at Ducati into next year.

But there remain several option for BMW to choose from, including, but not limited to, the six riders in this list.

Jonathan Rea

Perhaps the obvious choice, especially if you look at primarily at riders’ historical records rather than prioritising their present form, would be Jonathan Rea.

The Northern Irish rider is out of contract at Yamaha at the end of this season and has been clear that he would like to continue racing in 2026 if he can land himself a competitive package.

Plus, his record in the production derivative series is far above any other’s with 119 wins and six titles.

But the question would be whether Rea thinks the BMW is competitive enough. The rumours at present linking him to moves away from Yamaha make Ducati Rea’s brand of choice, and the whole point of Rea’s Yamaha switch away from Kawasaki was the performance of Razgatlioglu on the R1 in 2023 when the Turkish rider was able to contend much better with the dominant Alvaro Bautista than the Rea-Kawasaki partnership.

If that logic were employed for a second time, it would be so after it had failed to produce the intended result at Yamaha, where Rea has struggled to understand the bike and adapt his style to it.

Alvaro Bautista

In a much similar vein to that in which Rea could be considered at BMW for 2026, so could Alvaro Bautista.

The Spanish rider completed perhaps the most dominant season in World Superbike history in 2023, winning 27 of 36 races, but has struggled at Ducati this year and is winless so far in 2025.

In fact, Bautista has struggled since the combined rider-bike minimum weight rule was introduced in 2024, a rule which Bautista has recently labelled as “discrimination”.

Bautista’s frustration at the rule is driven by results, which for a rider with such a commanding past in World Superbike have been distinctly lacklustre in the past season-and-a-half.

But it’s that ballast that might also make him less attractive to other manufacturers looking for a rider. Because, with Bautista, you’re paying not only for two world titles and 63 race wins, but also several kilograms of ballast weight that is going to complicate your setup work and compromise performance.

40-year-old Bautista is also even older than 38-year-old Rea, so the frustration of the ballast weight would be only for very short term gains from a BMW perspective.

Ultimately, Bautista is an ageing rider who comes with complications that almost all others do not. But he’s also a World Champion and can therefore demand a strong salary, which in turn makes him less desirable from a BMW perspective.

Lecuona & Vierge

If the World Champions available are considered too pricey or too complicated or too old, perhaps what BMW needs for its Razgatlioglu replacement is a rider who comes with less reputation, perhaps with some valuable youth.

A look down the categories, then, is inevitable, but these riders also exist in WorldSBK and the opportunity could even come from Bautista.

If the Spanish rider moves back to Honda, as has been rumoured, it would mean the departure of at least one of Xavi Vierge and Iker Leucona, both of whom have spent their entire WorldSBK careers at HRC and both of whom are out of contract at the end of the season.

While neither Vierge nor Lecuona have the star power of Rea or Bautista, and could not reasonably be expected to match the performance of Razgatlioglu, they have both shown flashes of promise in their time in WorldSBK.

Four seasons and all to show for it is flash (and a couple of podiums) is perhaps not a lot, but if either is free at the end of the season they could make a reasonable replacement for Razgatlioglu.

The reason they’re both positioned together here is that they feel so similar. Lecuona has more speed but has a tendency to crash, and has a tendency to be injured after those crashes. Vierge is perhaps a touch slower in terms of raw speed but is typically more reliable and consistent.

If it was a choice between the two, the choice would be a difficult one to make with conviction, but racing being racing you’d expect the extra flicker of speed from Lecuona would get him the nod.

Stefano Manzi

All the suggestions at the moment are that Stefano Manzi, presently leading the Supersport World Championship, will step up to WorldSBK next year and that he will do it with Yamaha.

Ducati had been rumoured, but now Manzi seems certain to stay with Yamaha after a test aboard the R1 at Misano.

But, if nothing is yet finalised, perhaps BMW could make a bid and get the Italian and black, red, and blue for next season.

Aron Canet

Most of this article has been delaying the inevitable, really, because currently all signs point to Aron Canet replacing Razgatlioglu.

The Spanish rider is currently sat second to Manuel Gonzalez in the Moto2 World Championship and has, over the past season-and-a-half, transformed from a rider incapable of winning an intermediate class grand prix into the one seemingly most likely to challenge a rider who is apparently destined for MotoGP for the Moto2 world title.

It’s been a strong evolution from the tattooed Canet, who has been of the belief for some time that his appearance makes him unattractive to MotoGP factories.

Apparently not to WorldSBK factory teams, though, as, since the Aragon Grand Prix, Canet has become the frontrunner in the race to replace Razgatlioglu.

It would be quite the signing for BMW, who would be taking a chance on a rider who has no production racing experience to potentially lead its WorldSBK project, especially if it decides to also replace Michael van der Mark for 2026.

The Spaniard is clearly a rider who comes with a lot of natural talent and determination, but a move to BMW would certainly the biggest test yet of his technical abilities as a rider – the M1000 RR is a title-winning bike, but also one that has only won in the dry with a rider so talented he could move to MotoGP with a factory contract at the age of 29.