Toprak Razgatlioglu aims to challenge Fabio Quartararo in rookie MotoGP season

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s goal for his maiden season in MotoGP is to challenge Fabio Quartararo as the top rider within the Yamaha contingent, according to his manager Kenan Sofuoglu.

Three-time World Superbike champion Razgatlioglu will make a long-anticipated move to MotoGP in 2026, partnering Jack Miller at Pramac on a factory-spec Yamaha M1.

The Turkish rider made his first official appearance as a Yamaha rider in last week’s Valencia test, just under a month after winning the 2025 WSBK title with BMW.

Completing 53 laps of Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Razgatloglu set a best time of 1m30.667s, 1.2s slower than pacesetter Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia. This put him 18th on the timesheets in Valencia, ahead of two other Yamaha riders, Alex Rins and Miller. 

However, he was no match for the Japanese manufacturer’s benchmark Quartararo, who finished three spots ahead and seven tenths quicker with a best time of 1m29.927s.

Razgatlioglu’s contractual commitments prevent him from talking publicly about his new job at Yamaha until 1 January 2026. However, that media silence does not impact his manager Sofuoglu, who was a part of the grand prix paddock as a Moto2 rider between 2010 and ‘11.

Sofuoglu has high expectations for Razgatlioglu and hopes he can compete at the same level as 2021 champion Quartararo.

“Of course, in MotoGP, it’s difficult to say something, but there are still four Yamaha bikes and we want to be top of the list,” he said during MotoGP’s official broadcast.

“It is a hard challenge because Fabio is one of the best riders in the paddock, and if we can battle with him, [that would be a big achievement]. This is our target for the first season.”

In last Tuesday’s Valencia test, Razgatlioglu had just one V4-spec M1 at his disposal, forcing him to be extra cautious on the bike.

Over the course of the day, he completed eight runs, setting 37 flying laps out of a total of 53. On his fourth run, he finished a six-lap sequence, with all laps firmly in the mid-30s. On the sixth run, he hit three laps in the 1m31s.4 range. On his seventh outing, he reeled off five flying laps, two in the 1m30s bracket and one each in 1m31.0s and 1m31.3s, marking a solid start for the rookie.

This was only the second MotoGP test outing for Razgatlioglu in 2025 following a short private session at Aragon earlier in the month.

“When you look at lap time, he’s around 1.5 seconds slow,” said Sofuoglu. “But when I watch him, I’m not watching ‘our’ Toprak. He is a bit scared because there are not many bikes [available to him]. At the moment there is just one V4 for Toprak. 

“He is careful at the moment, he’s very scared at the moment to make mistakes. But still he’s there. 

“Probably after a couple of tests, we will see the real Toprak, stopping on the brakes, sliding and pushing harder. At the moment, without pushing, I can see how he rides the bike, he’s doing great. 

“There is a lot to go, I’m very positive about what he’s doing at the moment.”

The consensus about Razgatlioglu is that while he may take some time to adapt to MotoGP, he will eventually succeed in the category thanks to his exceptional talent and unmatched feeling for the front end of the bike.

Asked if he will be able to carry over his braking superiority from WSBK to MotoGP, Sofuoglu said: “A lot of people think in MotoGP he can’t, but everybody will see he will do the same things [as in WSBK].

“Before he came to Superbike, nobody was riding like him. For sure, he will surprise everybody with what he can do on the bike because he’s always surprising us. 

“Now, people will see in the MotoGP paddock that he will surprise a lot of people because he has this skill and he understands very much.”

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— The Motorsport.com Team