BMW explain how to deliver a bike which suits Toprak Razgatlioglu’s style

BMW have opened up on the unique challenge of providing a motorcycle which suits Toprak Razgatlioglu’s remarkable style.

Razgatlioglu sensationally won the World Superbike Championship season last year, after dominating throughout.

He won 13 races in a row and only an injury-enforced absence threatened to hamper him.

Razgatlioglu’s feedback will be at the centre of BMW’s development for the 2025 WSBK season although his unique ability poses its own questions.

"Since he is clearly the rider who delivers, his wishes are taken into account," BMW sporting director Marc Bongers told Speedweek.

"A rider doesn't tell a plant or a development team what he needs. He has a wish, which is expressed for him in a different driving behavior.

“How to implement this technically is a puzzle.

"Toprak has a strange, special riding style, but in terms of the performance of the four BMWs in the field this year, the difference was very small.

"The vehicles were very close to each other. You could see that Toprak pulled the other riders along.

“This was not only because of the development, but also because they adapted their riding style. When you see every day what he does and how the bike works very well...

“We worked intensively with Michael van der Mark on his riding style and that bore fruit."

The concerns for BMW is that too closely following Razgatlioglu’s unique genius could land them in a similar position to Honda’s MotoGP project.

Among the criticisms levelled at Honda was that they were too reliant on Marc Marquez’s genius, so didn’t develop a bike which worked without his ability.