Toprak Razgatlioglu, Nicolo Bulega WorldSBK title fight “crazy” - Shaun Muir

As WorldSBK approaches the summer break in its 2025 season, BMW team boss Shaun Muir says the closeness of the battle between the two title contenders is “crazy” and that the fight should continue until the final round at Jerez.

Muir’s rider, reigning World Superbike Champion Toprak Ragzatlioglu, took the championship lead after his Race 2 victory at the latest round at the UK Round, while Nicolo Bulega had led the points from the opening round in Australia.

Razgatlioglu will carry a four-point lead into the eighth round of the season in Hungary, and Muir points out the remarkability of the season that the title battle should be so tight after both riders have encountered so many difficulties: Razgatlioglu with a DNF in Australia and two poor races in the Netherlands; and Bulega with two DNFs in the Netherlands, and a crash beyond his control in Emilia-Romagna.

“If you look at the losses in the race situation of Toprak [Razgatlioglu], where he had poor results at Assen and the DNF in Australia, and Nicolo [Bulega] had the DNFs at Assen… it’s crazy when you look at how many points they’ve lost,” Muir told WorldSBK.com.

“Here they are, in the middle of the season, they’re completely neck-and-neck in the title race.

“It could really swing either way because there’s nobody else challenging Nicolo and Toprak at the moment, there’s nobody taking big points off each other. It’s first or second, second or first, first or second.

“This is the Championship we’re fighting right now, so there’s zero room for error. I’m sure Serafino [Foti, Aruba.it Racing Ducati Team Manager] and the Ducati team are talking the same as we are.

“We have to be extra careful with every aspect of the preparation of the bike. It needs to be checked, double checked, 100 per cent and we just really hope we don’t have any mechanical issues and rider falls like we’ve seen already.

“You can get taken out at turn one at the beginning of the race by another rider and completely ruin your season like happened to Nicolo with Axel [Bassani].

“That was no fault, it’s a racing situation. We’ve got to be prepared for every scenario.”

Muir added that the rest of the season could continue the trend we’ve seen in recent rounds, with some circuits suiting Bulega more, and others suiting Razgatlioglu, starting with this weekend’s (25–27 July) Hungarian Round at Balaton Park.

“If we look at the circuits we go to next – I think in Hungary, we tested there already, and this could be [a track that is] maybe positive for the BMW and Toprak [Razgatlioglu],” Muir said.

“I feel the same about Magny-Cours; we’ll have a good chance there.

“Then we get to Aragon where we know the strength of the Ducati will [make it] a struggle for us and maybe also Estoril.

“It’s going to be fairly even.

“Then we get to the final round at Jerez which, again, we know is strong for Ducati.

“We have to look at each circuit and look at what the maximum expectation of performance is from this package with Toprak.

“I think it’s going to be a really close title fight. It’ll go right down to the last race at Jerez.

“I really hope there’s no more mechanicals for both riders, both manufacturers and it’s a good fight until the end. Whoever wins it will have really earned the championship this year.”