BMW explain what they did to turn Toprak Razgatlioglu’s bike around

Toprak Razgatlioglu enters a World Superbike Championship round as the leader this weekend for the first time in his title defence.

BMW’s Razgatlioglu overhauled Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega last time out at Donington Park.

Razgatlioglu had struggled in the earliest rounds, often bemoaning the competitiveness of his BMW which was a different package to his 2024 title-winner.

BMW explain focus of Toprak Razgatlioglu's bike

BMW lost their superconcession chassis for this year, then faced a pre-season disrupted by weather. It means it took the team - and their star rider - some time to understand the M1000RR.

“We started late with testing and the new material,” team principal Shaun Muir said.

“It seems to be that wherever we have a test at the circuit, we have a good performance in the round. We tested at Portimao, we had a really good performance. We tested at Misano and had a good performance in the race.

“[At Donington Park], I think it was always going to be good for Toprak because it’s his favourite circuit.

“Generally, we’ve just been focusing on trying to stabilise the setup of the bike, trying to get to a position where confirming the data setting from circuit to circuit becomes quite standard.

“We’re almost at that point with the new package that it transfers circuit to circuit.”

Bulega has emerged as a serious threat to Razgatlioglu’s crown since a hat-trick of race wins at the first round in Australia.

They will lock horns again this weekend at Balaton Park for the Hungarian WorldSBK.

Razgatlioglu’s three wins at Donington Park at the most recent round was a long time coming and put him above Bulega in the WorldSBK standings for the first time this season.

“It’s been a real, real struggle over the last months to claw back the deficit to Nicolo Bulega's Championship lead,” Muir admitted.

“Hats off to the whole team. They’ve all worked really hard and never given up.

“Toprak’s had laser focus in every race. It hurt him badly at Most to come away having ridden so hard all weekend to not get the maximum there.

“Since then, at Misano and Donington, he’s been really determined to get back to a level situation in the Championship.

“A big effort by everybody and we can finally now start to grind down the races, look forward to the next test and look forward to the next race.”