Muir on title fight: "It’ll go right down to the last race at Jerez… there’s zero room for error!"
Razgatlioglu and Bulega are only four points apart after 21 races in the 2025 season, with ‘El Turco’ leading for the first time after Donington
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship lead for the first time in 2025 after a Donington Park triple, with ‘El Turco’ taking a slender four-point advantage over Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) heading into Round 8 in Hungary. Speaking at Donington, Team Principal Shaun Muir discussed the title fight which, after the first three rounds, looked like a tall order for Razgatlioglu to retain his title.
BACK IN FRONT: “I think it’s going to be a really close title fight. It’ll go right down to the last race at Jerez”
After Australia, Bulega had a 42-point advantage over Razgatlioglu and after Race 1 at Assen, ‘Bulegas’ was still 41 points clear despite Razgatlioglu’s Portimao hat-trick. Two Sunday DNFs for Bulega allowed the #1 to close the gap but Bulega responded with a hat-trick at Cremona. At Most, it looked like Razgatlioglu would take a clean sweep but Bulega denied him in an epic battle to the line in Race 2, before two hat-tricks in a row for the BMW star meant he claimed the Championship lead by just four points heading to Balaton Park – a circuit no one has raced at.
Muir reflected on Razgatlioglu taking the lead of the Riders’ Championship for the first time this season, saying: “If we look at the circuits we go to next, I think in Hungary, we tested there already, and this could be an even track and maybe positive for the BMW and Toprak. I feel the same about Magny-Cours; we’ll have a good chance there. Then we get to Aragon where we know the strength of the Ducati will be a struggle for us and maybe also Estoril. It’s going to be fairly even. Then we get to the final round at Jerez which, again, we know is strong for Ducati. We have to look at each circuit and look at what the maximum expectation of performance is from this package with Toprak. I think it’s going to be a really close title fight. It’ll go right down to the last race at Jerez. I really hope there’s no more mechanicals for both riders, both manufacturers and it’s a good fight until the end. Whoever wins it will have really earned the Championship this year.”
NECK AND NECK: “It’s crazy when you look at how many points they’ve lost”
While the pair are pushing each other to the limits, they’ve often lost points too. In Australia, Razgatlioglu was 13th in the Superpole Race after he ran wide on the opening lap and crashed out of Race 2, meaning he scored nothing on Sunday. At Assen, Bulega suffered two technical issues while running P2 in the Superpole Race and P1 in Race 2, while he was also taken out of the Superpole Race at Misano; which then meant he started P10 in Race 2, potentially limiting his chances of challenging Razgatlioglu. It means the pair are on 345 points and 341 points in favour of Razgatlioglu, with five rounds and 15 races to go.
Expanding on how he feels the title fight will play out, Muir stated: “If you look at the losses in the race situation of Toprak, where he had poor results at Assen and the DNF in Australia, and Nicolo had the DNFs at Assen… it’s crazy when you look at how many points they’ve lost. Here they are, in the middle of the season, they’re completely neck and neck in the title race. It could really swing either way. Because there’s nobody else challenging Nicolo and Toprak at the moment, there’s nobody taking big points off each other. It’s first or second, second or first, first or second. The margin every weekend, like Most was, is full gas all weekend. Toprak was top in FP1, FP2, FP3, Superpole, won Race 1, won the Superpole Race and lost Race 2 by 0.0 whatever over the line and we gained only three or four points overall. This is the Championship we’re fighting right now, so there’s zero room for error. I’m sure Serafino and the Ducati team are talking the same as we are. We have to be extra careful with every aspect of the preparation of the bike. It needs to be checked, double checked, 100% and we just really hope we don’t have any mechanical issues, and rider falls like we’ve seen already; you can get taken out at Turn 1 at the beginning of the race by another rider and completely ruin your season like happened to Nicolo with Axel. That was no fault, it’s a racing situation. We’ve got to be prepared for every scenario.”
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