Theory touted linking Toprak Razgatlioglu to Marc Marquez on a Honda

Satellite Ducati World Superbike rider Danilo Petrucci has compared Toprak Razgatlioglu’s time at BMW in WorldSBK to Marc Marquez’s stint at Honda in MotoGP.

Marc Marquez dominated MotoGP while he was at Honda, but he did so with an RC213V which few others were able to win on and which none other himself were able to be consistently competitive with.

It is this characteristic of Marquez’s MotoGP success in the mid-to-late 2010s that Petrucci has likened to Toprak Razgatlioglu’s current World Superbike success.

The Turkish rider – who is the reigning World Superbike Champion and the current championship leader by 26 points over Nicolo Bulega having won the last nine races in succession – is still the only person to have won a dry race for BMW since the Munich marque re-entered as a factory team in 2019.

“Honestly, I’m thinking about whether Toprak [Razgatlioglu] winning and van der Mark being 15th is more or less like when Marc Marquez was winning on the Honda,” Danilo Petrucci said on Sunday at the Hungarian Round, as reported by WorldSBK.com.

“It’s quite similar.

“I don’t know if the BMW is like the Honda in MotoGP, or if Toprak is like Marquez.”

In recent weeks, Petrucci has been linked strongly with Razgatlioglu’s seat at BMW for the 2026 season when the Turkish rider will depart the German brand after two years to joining the MotoGP grid with Pramac Yamaha.

Petrucci was asked in Balaton if the rider to replace Razgatlioglu would have a difficult time, Petrucci said: “I don’t know”.