Why being “destroyed” at Assen was key to Toprak Razgatlioglu 2025 WorldSBK title

After beating Nicolo Bulega to the 2025 WorldSBK title by 13 points, Toprak Razgatlioglu says it was the Dutch Round at Assen that was a key moment in winning his third title.

The results of the season show a remarkable World Superbike campaign for Razgatlioglu: 20 wins, including 13 in a row, a run of 25 consecutive races finishing inside the top two positions, and only two retirements – neither of his own doing.

But it was Razgatlioglu’s worst on-paper finish in a long race, his eighth place in Assen Race 2, that was a real turning point in the season for the BMW rider.

He’d won all three races at the previous round in Portugal, but was clearly out-paced by Nicolo Bulega at the season opener in Australia, a round which also saw Razgatlioglu not score in either the Superpole Race or Race 2 due to a mistake in the former and a bike issue in the latter.

After Australia, Razgatlioglu felt that beating Bulega to the title would be impossible, and he infamously branded the championship a “Ducati Cup” after the opening round. Assen, though, brought a change in perspective.

“We are going directly to Phillip Island for the first race, and there also the bike was not working good because the grip is less, turning less; the feeling is [that it’s] a completely different bike [compared to 2024],” Toprak Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com when looking back on the 2025 season.

“We didn’t do a good weekend there and I’m thinking immediately this: this season we are not easily winning the championship. The bike changed a lot and Ducati was very strong; I said: ‘This year we are not winning the championship.’ 

“After, we moved to Europe, especially the Assen race I’m again destroyed, I’m only doing the Superpole Race in wet conditions [well]; it’s perfect, but the dry condition bike is not working again, it destroyed all the tyres. 

“After, I’m just stopped to thinking about the new rules, new bike, I’m just focused on my job.

“I understand that when I started to focus on my job, I started to make the podium, win the races.”

Razgatlioglu added that confirming his place on the 2026 MotoGP grid before the Emilia-Romagna Round at Misano also helped his mentality for the rest of the season.

“Especially when I signed for the future I got more relaxed, I’m not thinking anymore about the future and I started riding [and enjoying],” he said.

“Especially Misano, I did a hattrick – this one was very important for me, because I was just focused on that race; Ducati is very strong there normally, all bosses are coming there. 

“I needed to beat Ducati there, because if I beat them there, maybe they are broken a little bit. 

“I just continued winning the races. The plan was working, I won the race in Misano, and after I continued winning many races.”