ToprakRazgatlioglu

At just 24 years of age, Toprak Razgatlioglu has been hailed as a future World Champion since the moment he stepped into the paddock. The Turkish rider first got on a bike at the age of five, and secured four Turkish Motocross championship titles, before competing in his first 600cc race when he was 13. Breaking onto the European scene from 2011, Razgatlioglu first entered the Yamaha R6 Dunlop Cup. In 2013, the youngster secured a place in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, which he raced in alongside the Turkish Supermoto championship. Fighting in the ever-competitive cup for two seasons, he took his first victory in Germany at the Sachsenring.

2015 welcomed Toprak onto the world stage, as he entered the European Superstock 600 Championship and won the title in the same season. Naturally progressing into the European Superstock 1000 Championship in 2016, he was battling for the title in his second season, just missing out by eight points.

Making the move up to WorldSBK in 2018 with Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, Razgatlioglu took two podiums and was the rookie of the year, but the big breakthrough was yet to come. After a slow start to 2019, Razgatlioglu featured on the podium at least once in every round from Round 5 to 12, including two sensational wins at Magny-Cours from sixteenth on the grid. Taking top independent honours with ease, the Turkish sensation secured a move to the PATA Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team for 2020. He won on his first race for the team at Phillip Island and picked up nine podiums in total, but he would not stand on the top step of the podium until Estoril at the end of the season; a round where he claimed his and Turkey’s first WorldSBK pole.

The 2021 season would prove to be the finest moment of Razgatlioglu’s career, staying with the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK outfit as he claimed the Riders’ Championship after an incredible rivalry with Jonathan Rea and Scott Redding, with the title going down to the last Round of the season in Indonesia. Razgatlioglu’s success meant he became Turkey’s first WorldSBK Champion and ended Yamaha’s wait for a Champion that had been going on since Ben Spies won the title in 2009.