Toprak Razgatlioglu: “First world title was for my dad, but this one is for myself”

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s second WorldSBK title came in dominant fashion, despite the BMW he was riding having never won a title before.

The Turkish rider won 18 races in 2024, making him clearly a deserved champion.

“My feeling now, after the world title, I’m really happy,” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com.

“We deserve it, we are the World Champions now; especially with BMW, for me, is an amazing season.”

“My first world title was for my dad, but this one is for myself. The first one is always difficult, the first one is very special, but I’m really happy.”

Razgatlioglu’s season was dominated by two periods of time.

The first was a run of 13 successive victories, which Razgatlioglu explained as a kind of exponential perpetuation.

“When I did the ‘hat-trick’ in Misano [...], the mental side is perfect, happy, but when I start the hat-trick, I do again the hat-trick because every race weekend I’m more relaxed,” he said.

The second period and the second was the time that passed after his practice crash in Magny-Cours which left him out of action for six races.

“The Magny-Cours crash, this is too hard,” Razgatlioglu said.

“When I come to the last sector, I lose the front, I hit the wall, and when I’m stopped I understand I’m not taking breaths. I’m turning immediately and trying to start breathing again.

“I take very short breaths, and I start to come back to breathing. When I go back to the hospital, I’m not good, because my lung is [punctured].

“After the crash, every day I’m thinking about my target, I’m just trying to come back quickly and be fighting for the title again.

“I tried to come back in Cremona — we checked the scan again, and I have still the air inside my lung. Just a little bit, but the doctors and Monica [Lazzarotti, WorldSBK chief medical officer] say this [racing in Cremona] is very dangerous.

“If I don’t come back to the Aragon race, I think I lose the championship. When I go to the doctors to check in Aragon, the doctor says ‘Fine’, and I almost cried there.

“After Aragon, when I go back to Turkiye, finally, I eat very special food with my mum, and I did many trainings in Kenan’s [Sofuoglu] track, and my mental side is getting more strong. When I go to Estoril, I’m feeling like Toprak, real Toprak.”

Razgatlioglu won four races across the final two rounds in Estoril and Jerez, sealing the title in the Superpole Race at the final round.

After clinching the title, Razgatlioglu was greeted by almost the entire WorldSBK field.

“When I stopped at the first corner, all riders, almost, stopped for me; also Alvaro [Bautista] stopped after [his] crash,” Razgatlioglu said.

“I’m happy because this is like a ‘family’ moment, and I’m really happy riding with everyone in the Superbike paddock.”

Razgatlioglu added: “Nobody believed in BMW, nobody believed in me when I signed. Everyone said ‘This is not a good decision, why sign with BMW, you are crazy’.

“My brother also didn’t believe; he was scared. He said, ‘Why have you signed with BMW? Nobody has won with this bike’. I said ‘Be calm, we have some plans’. Now, he’s very happy.

“When I come to BMW, and I’m feeling very warm, everyone very hungry for the title, everyone working very hard.

“This was really good teamwork, not just my side, also everyone — like a family. I’m very happy for BMW, for the team, and for myself.”

As a result of the effort he recognised in BMW, Razgatlioglu will run the #1 plate in 2025.

“I don’t like a lot the #1, I love the #54, but BMW deserves it,” he said. “For BMW, I will use the #1.”