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Kenan Sofuoglu bet on BMW and Toprak Razgatlioglu was willing to trust his mentor's advice. In the end the experiment succeeded and the Turkish manager enjoys this Saturday that smacks of history. At the end of Race 1 we intercepted him in the paddock, drawing a balance of what had been done.
"Of course we are all happy for Toprak, " Sofuoglu told us, "when he signed with BMW many people thought it was just for money and that I would ruin his career with that choice. Instead it wasn't like that, because to arrive at that decision I evaluated in detail how much BMW was doing in the various championships and the results collected. Also I was aware of who was riding the bike at that time, having respect for van der Mark and Redding. With Yamaha our time was up and BMW was doing an amazing job, so we chose them."
You were able to put an end to Bautista's dominance.
"Bautista was very strong and we needed a new challenge and a new bike that would allow us to counter Alvaro. To Toprak I told him: should you win with BMW you would be considered a hero."
When did you realize that the World Championship would be possible?
"In the second test I realized that he could win the World Championship, because it was impressive. In the end it was. The fact is that the World Championship goal should have been for the second year, but instead we managed to hit the jackpot on the first shot, going beyond expectations."
How much has Toprak changed over the years?
"Toprak is a professional rider and to this day I don't even advise him what to do on the track anymore, because he already knows. Today I wanted to give him some advice before the start of Race 1, but in the end I realized it was not necessary because he was aware of how he should behave."
Word in the paddock: Toprak has become more famous and richer than Kenan in Turkey...
"That one doesn't, let's say he is close to me in terms of fame. On the money talk I had a little longer career than him (smiles)."
We all know Toprak's story, conditioned by the disappearance of his father.
"Unfortunately Toprak's father passed away at the end of 2017, but he was already with me in 2014. In Toprak I noticed great talent right away and I knew he would become Champion. I never wanted to make a profit on him, but I talked to his father and told him to trust me. Our relationship has never changed over the years and I think he has reached a level where he doesn't need me anymore."
At the end of Race 1 Toprak said he would like to win with other Houses in the future.
"In 2026 we would like to go to MotoGP, that is our goal, in fact we will evaluate all the opportunities on the table. Should we not find the right proposal we may stay here in this World Championship. At the moment BMW is our priority, but we still don't know what will happen after 2025. As said we have to see what is on the table and then we will see what to do."
The priority as far as MotoGP is concerned is factory treatment, right?
"We want a factory package and a contract with the factory as for example works in Pramac with Martin. We are not interesting in a deal like Marquez's deal with Gresini. I say that because Marc has great support and strength behind him while we in Turkey have no sponsorship, let alone weight in terms of support. So we will see how to behave."
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