Razgatlioglu joins Pata Yamaha for 2020

Toprak Razgatlioglu has officially joined the factory Pata Yamaha squad for 2020 World Superbike championship alongside Michael van der Mark.

Following Yamaha’s split with Alex Lowes, the Turkish rider has been signed to replace him from 2020 with van der Mark retained in the factory squad.

Razgatlioglu had fallen out with Kawasaki after being overlooked as part of its Suzuka 8 Hour team, when the Japanese manufacturer did not use the 22-year-old during the race, and has duly switched to Yamaha under the guidance of manager Kenan Sofuoglu.

With Razgatlioglu claiming his two maiden World Superbike race wins in Magny-Cours at the weekend with Puccetti Kawasaki, the first customer Kawasaki rider to win in the championship since Chris Walker back in 2006, Yamaha Motor Europe President Eric de Seynes says his exploits have proven his talent and the reason why the Iwata factory signed up the youngster.

“Toprak Razgatlioglu is the most exciting young rider in WorldSBK and I’m both happy and proud that he will race for Yamaha in 2020,” de Seynes said. “When you consider Toprak’s progression this year, only his second in WorldSBK, his prodigious talent is obvious, but so is his warrior spirit.

“Like his teammate for next season, Michael van der Mark, he’s a rider who always finds that little bit extra on race day and is prepared to push to the limit to overcome any obstacle. We saw that clearly in Magny-Cours, where he came from the sixth row of the grid to claim his first WorldSBK race win.

“We have also seen this season that Yamaha has closed the gap to our rivals on track and I’m excited to see what Toprak can do on our Yamaha YZF-R1 in 2020. With Michael and Toprak I think we will have one of the strongest and most dynamic rider line ups on the WorldSBK grid next year.”

With Razgatlioglu leaving Puccetti Kawasaki, it opens up a spot at the team for 2020 which is expected to be filled by Leon Haslam with Lowes set to take his spot at the factory Kawasaki squad next to reigning world champion Jonathan Rea.