Sofuoglu: “Toprak has enough talent to cover missing points of BMW”

Razgatlioglu has just eight rounds left in the blue colours of Yamaha before switching to BMW for the 2024 WorldSBK championship.

Winner of the world title with Yamaha in 2021, Razgatlioglu has enjoyed the most success in his career with the Japanese manufacturer.

• Razgatlioglu: “It still looks like it's possible to be champion” 
• Granado to miss Misano WorldSBK round after suffering “serious brain swelling”

However, a new challenge was wanted from the Turkish star as he decided to join BMW who have never won a world title in WorldSBK.

But Sofuoglu, Razgatlioglu’s manager, is convinced that this will change now that they have signed arguably the most talented rider in WorldSBK.

"BMW is a very big brand and they are very excited to give us what we need," said Sofuoglu when speaking to WorldSBK.com. "Toprak has enough talent to cover missing points. He has a two-year contract and, I believe, we will win the championship.

"I can’t say which year, but we come to BMW to make BMW and ourselves champions. They are fully ready for what Toprak needs to make it, even in the future. 

"If Toprak asks, BMW is ready to deliver to Toprak what he needs to make the bike a championship winning bike. 

"This partnership came together to be champions. We came together to make BMW world champions. This is our main goal."

Razgatlioglu ‘wouldn’t have been as famous’ if he won WorldSBK title with Kawasaki

Much younger than his two main rivals Bautista and Jonathan Rea, Razgatlioglu should have plenty of chances to win multiple WorldSBK titles going forward.

With that said, Razgatlioglu’s move to BMW is unlikely to see him replicate the immediate success he had at Yamaha, which Sofuoglu has acknowledged. 

Razgatlioglu, who received an offer to stay at Kawasaki before moving to Yamaha in 2020, became more famous in the eyes of Sofuoglu by switching to the R1 and winning the title with Yamaha, as opposed to winning the championship with Kawasaki who were already dominating the sport with Rea at that time.

Sofuoglu added: "Toprak had an offer in 2020 to leave a winning package, when Jonny was winning everything. Kawasaki wanted him and he was very good on Kawasaki. 

"Later, we moved to Yamaha and we won the championship with Yamaha. The Yamaha movement made Toprak much more famous. If Toprak was the third Kawasaki and won championships with Kawasaki, I think Toprak wouldn’t have been as famous as today. 

"It’s very different to have Kawasaki fighting with Kawasaki vs Kawasaki fighting with Yamaha as we did with the last contract. Now, we want to do this with BMW. 

"Maybe not many people believe in us. We believe very much, me and Toprak. We believe 100% we are going to win the championship with BMW. Time will show us, but this is what we believe."