Toprak Razgatlioglu “expected” Nicolo Bulega challenge in WorldSBK 2025

Nicolo Bulega’s challenge for the 2025 WorldSBK title was not a surprise to Toprak Razgatlioglu, the three-time World Champion says.

Razgatlioglu and Bulega’s title battle was taken down to the final race of the season, the first time that had happened since 2014, and the two won all but one of the 36 races that were held in 2025, the one they missed (when Bulega retired with a technical problem and Razgatlioglu finished eighth) was Assen Race 2 when Andrea Locatelli won.

After the absolute dominance Razgatlioglu displayed in 2024, when he won despite missing six races, 2025 was a much tighter season with Bulega as a definitive challenger, making the season more similar, in some respects, to that of 2021 when Razgatlioglu triumphed after a season-long battle with Jonathan Rea.

It’s hard to say whether Bulega really pushed Razgatlioglu harder in 2025 than Jonathan Rea did in 2021. The 13-point gap between Bulega and Razgatlioglu this year is identical to that which separated Razgatlioglu from Rea four years ago, but the seasons that led to those differences were wildly different.

Where Rea and Razgatlioglu regularly went bar-to-bar on-track in 2021, Razgatlioglu and Bulega only really battled in close-quarters at three rounds in 2025: Portimao, Aragon, and Jerez; one of those battles, of course, did not last very long.

It’s true that Razgatlioglu and Bulega dominated the 2025 season together, but it’s also true that one was typically dominating the other on any given weekend, as well. Bulega was much stronger at Phillip Island, Assen, Cremona, and Jerez; where Razgatlioglu had the advantage at Misano, Donington, Most (for the most part), Balaton, Magny-Cours, and (again, for the most part) Estoril.

In all, Razgatlioglu and Bulega finished together in the top two positions 27 times out of 36 races. They were the only riders capable of being near the level of the other, and this is what really makes it stand out from 2021, which featured intrusions on the Razgatlioglu-Rea battle from several riders such as Scott Redding, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Tom Sykes, and Michael van der Mark.

In this way, it’s possible to view the 2025 World Superbike season as one in which Bulega, after Razgatlioglu looked largely unbeatable for much of 2024, rose to the BMW rider’s challenge.

It’s this which makes the Italian stand out to Razgatlioglu as the heir to his throne in the production derivative series, although the Italian’s ascent in 2025 is not one that has surprised the Turkish star.

“I think Bulega was very strong every race weekend,” Toprak Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com.

“It looks like he is the next World Champion. 

“Last year [2024] we were not fighting a lot with him, but this year every race weekend we fight with him. He improved a lot, Ducati improved a lot. 

“I expected because last season was the first season for him, rookie season – he did an incredible job. This year, I expected he was coming more strong. 

“He started very strong – okay, Assen for him was not a good weekend; but, after Assen he always stayed on top. 

“This year we did very good races together, especially in Portimao and also Aragon was very special also, we were fighting with him.”