EXCLUSIVE: “Politics” worry about Toprak Razgatlioglu move to MotoGP

The subject of Toprak Razgatlioglu’s potential move to MotoGP has been one which has emerged and re-emerged several times since he won his first WorldSBK title in 2021, especially since he began dominating the production series with BMW this year.

Razgatlioglu won 18 races in his first season with the Bavarian brand, which had won only one race since it re-entered WorldSBK as a factory effort in 2019 before the Turkish rider joined at the end of 2023.

Razgatlioglu’s arrival brought with it anticipation and expectation, but also the 28-year-old’s long-time crew chief, Phil Marron, who began working with Razgatlioglu at the Puccetti Kawasaki team in 2019.

Before Razgatlioglu, Marron worked with Eugene Laverty in a partnership that began, professionally, towards the end of the 2000s when Laverty raced in the Supersport World Championship.

Marron and Laverty stayed together until the end of 2018, by which time they’d gone from WorldSSP to WorldSBK, to MotoGP and back to the Superbike paddock again with the Shaun Muir Racing (SMR) team and their Aprilia RSV4.

Only when it became clear that Laverty was leaving SMR, a move which coincided with the beginning of SMR’s current relationship with BMW, was Marron approached to work with Razgatlioglu from 2019.

“The first mention of [working with Razgatlioglu] was in Qatar, the last race of 2018,” Marron said in an exclusive interview with Crash.net.

“I got approached by Kawasaki, by Paolo Marchetti from KRT [Kawasaki Racing Team], and he happened to say ‘It looks like Eugene’s not continuing next year and you’ve been with him for a few years, would you be interested in working with this young Turkish star?’

“Before we left Qatar, I saw Kenan [Sofuoglu] as well, and Kenan mentioned that they needed an English-speaking crew chief.

“He’d [Razgatlioglu] had one year in World Superbike with an Italian crew chief, and Kenan, I think, was doing most of the translating. Toprak knew very little English, he had no Italian, and the crew chief had very little English as well.

“So, I got the chance at the end of 2018, and we started at the beginning of 2019 with KRT and Manuel Puccetti.”

As with Laverty before, Marron has remained with Razgatlioglu as the Turkish rider has moved between teams and manufacturers, first from Kawasaki to Yamaha and most recently from Yamaha to BMW.

“I’m guessing the reason Toprak asked me to go to Yamaha is because we’d just done one year together, so we were still learning each other and I already had a good idea of what he wanted from the bike, so it made sense to ask me to go to Yamaha.

“Then, I’m in the fortunate position where he asked me to continue on to BMW from Yamaha.

“With Eugene, we’d done Supersport together, Superbike and MotoGP together, so it’s quite a lot of mileage, and I’m lucky that I get to do the same with another talented guy, but I don’t know if it’s a reflection on me or them. I’m not sure!”

Marron explained that his own experience of working in WorldSBK makes it easier for the riders who work with him to request that he goes with them whenever they switch teams. This has been the case with Razgatlioglu, and in the past with Laverty.

“Eugene had asked Suzuki,” Marron said. “He was keen that I went there, and the same thing happened [with Razgatlioglu] from Kawasaki to Yamaha.

“Toprak had told me it was the plan to go to Yamaha and he was keen for me to go with him. I spoke to Kenan Sofuoglu also, and he said they would like me to go.

“Fortunately, I had been in contact with Yamaha a few times over the years; Paul Denning was still involved in Suzuki back then and [now with] Yamaha, so we had an understanding of each other already, and I spoke to Andrea Dosoli (sporting manager of Yamaha’s road racing department at the time of Razgatlioglu’s signing) a few times.

“So, them [the riders] requesting me to come, if you have Superbike experience it’s easier for them [the teams] to say yes or no; so the door was already half-open, so it wasn’t too difficult.

“Then, from Yamaha to BMW, I was familiar with the guys at SMR (Shaun Muir Racing) from before, from the Aprilia days; I’d seen some of the BMW guys in the paddock before, so we were on speaking terms, so it was an easy introduction.”

Marron’s relationship with Razgatlioglu, as well as his previous experience with Laverty that took him to MotoGP, means that he is also a character in the recurring saga of Razgatlioglu’s attempts to move to the Grand Prix paddock.

Would Marron move with Razgatlioglu to MotoGP if the possibility was there?

“If there was an opportunity to go, yes, I would,” Marron said.

“I believe he deserves to go there, he’s talented enough to make it work. But for me, personally, I enjoyed it in that paddock.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of politics involved in changing a rider in that paddock, let alone changing staff.

“If the opportunity arose, I would definitely consider it. Honestly it’s a privilege to work beside a guy of that level, he’s totally unique.”

Not only the “politics” of MotoGP, but also his age (he will be 29 by the time the 2026 season starts) and even perceptions about Razgatlioglu’s riding style have been raised as concerns about a potential move between paddocks for the now-two-times WorldSBK Champion.

“His level is so high,” Marron said in response to the idea that Razgatlioglu’s style is incompatible with MotoGP.

“The way that we worked in Yamaha with Toprak, and the way that we work in BMW, is we set the bike up to suit him. We don’t have a small window that the bike works inside and you have to beat the rider to conform to this style of riding.

“He’s already got experience with carbon brakes [from previous MotoGP tests with Yamaha], he’s already got experience with Michelin tyres, albeit maybe two versions older than what they have now, but he will figure it out.

“If you give him the tools that complement his style of riding, let him ride how he wants to ride — okay, for sure he would have to adjust some of the finer details, but his level is so high he could adapt and figure it out. I can’t see it being a massive problem.”

Instead of Razgatlioglu’s style, Marron suggested that one of the major “stumbling blocks” for a MotoGP move would be patience, and giving Razgatlioglu the necessary time to make the adaptations required.

“The biggest issue could be having the patience — you would have to give it a season, and then on year two see what you can do,” Marron said.

“But I’m sure that would probably be the biggest issue for him — not even an issue, but it’s probably one of the stumbling blocks.

“For sure, the talent is good enough to go there and shine, not go there and make up the numbers. And that’s no disrespect to the guys that are there, because they’re all f*cking incredible.”