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Kenan Sofuoglu is also present at Assen. The former Supersport champion, currently the manager of Toprak Razgatlioglu, announced together with Manuel Puccetti the creation of a new company, called Puccetti Racing Management, which will take care of the management at the sponsorship level of Turkish riders including Kenan's son, namely Zayn.
On the sidelines of the conference we spoke with Kenan, who explained to us the current situation related to Toprak's future. His contract is expiring and there is no shortage of interest from other manufacturers.
"It is clear that Toprak would like to go to MotoGP, " he told us, "in the last two weeks we have been trying to figure out how to make this move concrete. We have found a solution, but we cannot announce it yet, because at the moment we are discussing and evaluating everything in detail. Should this opportunity be defined, within a few days we would then have found the project to build."
What project is this?
"Just yesterday I had a meeting with this manufacturer. The company has ideas, Toprak and I laid out ours, and they seemed very interested. At the same time there is BMW, which wants to retain Toprak for 2026. This is certainly an option because they are happy with him. The fact is that Toprak's dream and challenge is to go and race in MotoGP. This is what he wants."
You have said several times in the past that the goal was factory teams and nothing else.
"That is true, but Ducati's philosophy with Pramac has shown that there is no longer this gap between factory and satellite teams. Pramac is now a factory team and its riders can play on a level playing field with Yamaha riders and even manage to beat them. Toprak knows this and this is no longer a problem for him. He wants the support of the manufacturer and the factory bike, the color of the bike does not matter to him. By the way, on some occasions, a sponsor like Red Bull can change the story. Obviously Yamaha has another sponsor, but on a different color M1, it would be possible. Yamaha however is just an example: it doesn't mean that he has signed with them. However, Toprak is very excited about this idea related to MotoGP, but now it is too early to say more."
So can we say that in MotoGP there are two options while in SBK the priority is BMW?
"Exactly, with BMW we have an option to stay in SBK. On the MotoGP front, on the other hand, apart from Yamaha there is another manufacturer interested in Toprak. In any case, if the company he spoke with were to accept what he proposed, we would look no further."
Do you think the fact that Paolo Pavesio has replaced Lin Jarvis might be a game changer from the past? We all know well the relationships continued over time....
"It is clear that Yamaha is interested in Toprak, but we have to see what happens in the coming weeks. There are two opportunities in MotoGP: Yamaha and Honda, but at the same time I continue to believe in BMW here in SBK."
Apart from BMW, Honda seems to be the only manufacturer that can target Toprak in SBK, do you confirm?
"Should we stay in SBK, I think the best choice is to stay in BMW, because the project is very solid and competitive, plus they believe so much in him and they are happy. If we wanted he could have already left last year from BMW, but in the end we decided to stay, keeping our promise. BMW has to work hard to retain a rider like Toprak, but it is not just about money. That is not the main reason why he went there, but the project. As I said, within two weeks you will know everything."
