English
Italiano
After leading BMW to its first World Superbike title in their first year together, Toprak Razgatlioglu will return to line up at the start of the championship with the Bavarian manufacturer again in 2025, on the hunt for an encore. Next year, however, could be the last one with the production-derived machines for the Turkish champion, who dreams of a future in MotoGP .
Razgatlioglu's possible paddock change was precisely one of the topics addressed by Danilo Petrucci in an interview published by Manuel Pecino on his YouTube channel. A great connoisseur of the MotoGP environment, where he has competed continuously for a decade, and of the style of Toprak, against whom he has been racing for two seasons now, the rider from Terni gave his opinion on the transition from Superbike to prototypes and the potential that the Turkish rider could express.
" I would be very curious to see him. I think he and his entourage are waiting to find a competitive bike, because I think he had a chance to go to MotoGP again this year, but with non-competitive bikes," Danilo commented, before talking about the obstacles Razgatlioglu would face in this new adventure.
"Where will he suffer? Adapting to the tires, which are very different: Pirelli and Michelin are very high performance tires and above all there are riders who really take them to the limit. Look at Pecco and Martin, who have raised the bar to an impressive level," he underlined, "Toprak is doing the same here with Bautista and also with Bulega, but what is very different is the adaptation to the tires. A rider who is going strong, though, goes strong everywhere."
However, in order to be competitive in MotoGP as well, Razgatlioglu will also have to change his braking style.
"Yes, he cannot brake in MotoGP like he does in Superbike. I have also talked about this with Toprak at times. He is very particular as a riding setup, he is sitting very low, the handlebars are very high, like he is riding a dirt bike. When you are behind him it looks like he is riding a chopper and he always looks very relaxed," explained Petrucci, who is convinced that Toprak may still have what it takes to win in MotoGP as well.
"What he did this year with BMW is something really big, because the other BMW riders did more or less what they did last year, while he made all the difference," he noted, "I think Toprak could win in MotoGP as well. Seeing him, both on and off the track, he is a mix between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez. He looks a lot like Valentino in the way he sits on the bike, while in other things he looks like Marquez. Also in attitude: he's very quiet, very relaxed, but ruthless when he has to be."
