Kenan Sofuoglu has weighed in on the reason behind Toprak Razgatlioglu’s decision to leave Yamaha in favour of BMW for the 2024 WorldSBK Championship, saying that many influenced the Turkish rider to make the wrong decision.
Last year, Razgatlioglu stunned the paddock by announcing that he would be leaving Yamaha, where he clinched the 2021 WorldSBK Championship, in favour of BMW, despite the disparity in functionality between the two brands at the time.
However, after two rounds of the season, Razgatlioglu has been a revelation with the team led by Shaun Muir Racing, taking two wins on the last WorldSBK occasion in Catalonia. Prior to that, BMW had won a race since 2011.
It’s a result that goes a long way toward justifying a decision that many thought was made by mistake through Razgatlioglu’s trainer and five-time WorldSSP champion, Sofuoglu.
“Last year we made a vital resolution in favour of BMW and I very much support Toprak in making that resolution,” he told the WorldSBK website.
“A lot of people thought we had made the decision. As a rider, I thought the BMW was a very smart bike. At the first assembly I spoke to BMW, the team and the director talked about it and I thought they had a very good idea. Smart bike.
“I thought, ‘You’ve been given a big puzzle and there’s one piece missing,’ which is Toprak. Now everything is going very well, he wins in the second round.
Although a number of drivers, including Michael van der Mark, Scott Redding and Loris Baz, struggled to achieve consistent form, worthy of its effects on previous teams, Razgatlioglu embraced the BMW M 1000 RR with aplomb.
In fact, Sofuoglu firmly believes that Razgatlioglu has the strength to become world champion again with BMW this year.
“We were in this a lot, but we didn’t know when we could win. After the winter tests, I started doing it more. But I have the idea that we could win at Assen or Donington, I didn’t expect that in Barcelona!
“Barcelona is Toprak’s favourite track, but it’s very strong. Toprak is in his sixth season in WorldSBK and if I look at all the winter tests, Toprak is more powerful this year with BMW, and I sense he’s going to be the favourite. by the title.
“He can definitely [win the title]. When we signed, it was for two years but we didn’t know when: first or second year. We believed more in it for season two.
“After the winter test, I said to myself: ‘Toprak can win the championship this year with this bike’. The bike looks better than we expected.