Jarvis says Yamaha should have offered Razgatlioglu factory seat in MotoGP
Midway through the 2021 WorldSBK campaign heavy rumours linking Razgatlioglu with a switch to MotoGP began circulating.
Those same rumours began to resurface again this season before the RNF Yamaha team agreed to join Aprilia.
Razgatlioglu, who wanted to join MotoGP in a full factory team only, was unable to do so for 2023 as Fabio Quartararo was re-signed by the team, while Morbidelli signed a two-year deal last year.
But given Morbidelli’s disastrous 2021 campaign, there’s an argument to be made that Yamaha should have persisted with going after Razgatlioglu in 2021, or at the very least offered Morbidelli a one-year deal.
While hindsight is a wonderful thing, Lin Jarvis himself has stated Yamaha should have made the move to bring Razgatlioglu in alongside Quartararo.
Jarvis, who is the Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, said: "We should have offered Toprak the place in the MotoGP factory team in July 2021. But his mission was to win the Superbike World Championship first before he thought about other options and alternatives.
"And there's no guarantee Toprak will come to MotoGP and surpass Franco Morbidelli or anyone else. I am convinced that Toprak has tremendous potential. We have a lot of respect for him. He tested our MotoGP bike but we couldn't do it very extensively."
"Morbidelli was a promising option for us," added Jarvis. "In 2020 he was runner-up in our customer team with three GP victories. So we chose him. But it hasn't worked satisfactorily so far."
Razgatlioglu will spend at least one more season in WorldSBK after staying put with the Pata Yamaha outfit, however, the possibility to join MotoGP in 2024 is expected to become a very realistic option, whether that’s with Yamaha or someone else.
Razgatlioglu is not out of the 2022 WorldSBK title fight just yet, but will need a miracle if he’s to retain his crown after dropping to 82 points behind Alvaro Bautista with just two rounds remaining.
