Toprak Razgatlioglu: “When I signed for BMW, everyone said I’m crazy”
“This is the final round and we’ve almost got the title.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu is within touching distance of his second WorldSBK title this weekend at the Spanish World Superbike round in Jerez.
Razgatlioglu enters the weekend with a 46-point lead over Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega, and the Italian hasn’t beaten Razgatlioglu in a full-length race since Race 2 at the Catalan Round back in March.
Despite the stakes this weekend, Razgatlioglu assured that his target in Jerez is to win races; which he almost did last year in Jerez, before being penalised in Race 2 for touching the green paint on the outside of the final corner on the last lap.
“I’m feeling good because we come back to Jerez again,” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com ahead of this weekend’s Jerez decider.
“Last year, I lost the race in the last corner. It’ll be completely different this year on the BMW. My target is to win the race.”
As far as the championship is concerned, Razgatlioglu takes comfort from his “really big” points advantage.
“A 46-point margin is a really big gap,” he said. “If I finish the race in P2 or P3, I’ll win the championship. I know this, but still my target is to win the race.
“In 2021, I had the same. P3 is also enough for me, but I’m always looking for P1. I hope we get this because it’s important for me.
“When I signed for BMW, everyone said I’m crazy many times but now everyone’s started to believe in BMW and me.
“This is the final round and we’ve almost got the title. I hope we’re World Champions.
“It’s been an incredible season for me to ride the BMW and nobody believed me.
“First year and we could be World Champion, this is incredible for my career and also for BMW because they’ve never been World Champions on two wheels.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
