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The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is back in action after a spring break next week, with one rider being the talk of the WorldSBK paddock as well as being spoken about in abundance in the MotoGP™ paddock. 2021 World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) recently completed his second test aboard the Yamaha MotoGP™ YZR M1, this time with Lin Jarvis (Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director) in attendance, and with room for a potential change in the factory team in MotoGP™, Jarvis faced questions surrounding the Turk’s test.

With the test itself, Razgatlioglu set 116 laps across two days and set a lap time of 1’38.860, just seven tenths away from official Yamaha MotoGP™ test rider Cal Crutchlow and less than two seconds away from the top time, set by KTM’s Dani Pedrosa. In 2022, Razgatlioglu tested at MotorLand Aragon but the test was hit by rain and therefore didn’t give us a true indication of Toprak’s pace and potential on new tyres and a completely different motorcycle. Ahead of the recent Jerez test, Jarvis described Razgatlioglu as “extraordinarily talented” and stated his ‘curiosity’ about Toprak’s potential in MotoGP™.

“HE’S EXPRESSED AN INTEREST… A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER”

Talking about the future of the Turkish star, Jarvis confirmed that Toprak’s has shown an interest in a potential switch to MotoGP™: “Toprak is in WorldSBK right now but he’s expressed an interest; any rider eventually has an interest to see how they’d do in MotoGP™. I think it was for him to start to understand better the need of MotoGP™, and for us to see his speed. We can’t say much from two days of testing, it’s just very different; I think the conclusion he’d probably give you and from our side as well is that it’s very different riding an R1 on Pirellis to a MotoGP™ M1 on Michelins, and you need more time to adapt. It was interesting, a good test and a good opportunity to spend time together. From our side, I was there, Maio Meregalli was there, we had a dedicated test team for Cal and for Toprak. We had a 2023-spec YZR M1 for him, so it was a good two days.”

Speaking about Razgatlioglu’s test at Jerez from trackside at the Circuit of the Americas, Jarvis explained the purpose: “We did a test last year for him at Aragon for him but unfortunately, that test didn’t work out. He didn’t get as much track time as he wanted or that we would’ve liked as it started raining, so I think he got about 20 laps or something, which isn’t enough to enjoy or to get to know things.”

“A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO CHECK HOW HIS POTENTIAL IS FOR MotoGP™ IN THE FUTURE”

Going into the exact reasons, Jarvis continued: “We found this great opportunity as there’s a bit of a gap at the moment in the Superbike season; the next race is at Assen in a week or so, so we found this window of opportunity as we had to be there with Cal anyway for the private test. It wasn’t a Yamaha-exclusive test, it was a MotoGP™ private test with KTM, Aprilia, Honda and Yamaha there. It was very quiet without media, which was very welcome for us and it was a great opportunity to spend a relaxed time. Weather conditions were perfect on both days, the first a bit hotter than the second but we had sunshine. 

“Toprak spent time with Cal, who was explaining the bike to him. The most important thing for Toprak on this test was to get to know and to understand what type of a machinery a MotoGP™ bike is, what its demands are, his feelings about it. It was a good opportunity to check how his potential is for MotoGP™ in the future.”

“If I were to sum it up, it wasn’t easy for him to really get the feeling on the bike; if you watch Toprak riding a Superbike, he’s able to do miracles on the bike and he has an incredibly good feeling from the front end of the bike in particular. We’ve seen that from his stoppies and his incredible corner entry! That was not so easy to find on the M1, as the bike is much more rigid than the Superbike, which is logical as that’s based on a production bike. I think for him to get the speed on a MotoGP™ bike, he’d need to adapt his riding style quite significantly. That’s my takeaway from these couple of days.”

“ONE OF THE PRIME CANDIDATES IF HE WANTS TO MAKE A MOVE”

“At this moment, to have a satellite team for 2024 is very difficult; that’s the reality. We’d like to have four bikes back on the grid at the earliest opportunity but I think it’ll be difficult for 2024 for various reasons. So, for sure we’ll have the factory team there and we have Franky on a contract until the end of 2023, so the ideal scenario for us is that Franky continues to show the speed that he displayed in the last Grand Prix and Portimao, and if he can continue to perform very, very well, that’s better for us right now as we need two fast riders on the bike and it will automatically guarantee him a continuity in the future. Our number one choice would be to continue with Franky; if it’s not Franky, then we’ll be obliged to look at another candidate rider and that’s why we were interested to look at Toprak because in our Yamaha Road Racing world, he’s one of the prime candidates if he wants to make a move. Otherwise, we’d look in the MotoGP™ paddock but I hope that for us and for him, Franky is able to continue this newly-found speed and confidence.”

Talking about a time frame for the decision, Jarvis stated: “Obviously, to be frank, all of these type of considerations really it’s the end of the first half of the season, then we need to know, he needs to know, everyone needs to know for their planning for next year. There’s no specific deadline set in stone.”

2021 MotoGP™ World Champion Fabio Quartararo was also asked about his potential 2024 teammate. He said: “It’s not my thing. Of course, it was a great opportunity to try the bike for two days. I’ve never really spoken to him about the test and, for the future for Yamaha, it’s not really in my hands. We will see who my teammate is for next year. It could be Franco or it could be someone else.”

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