Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team rider Toprak Razgatlioglu has already gained interest from “a good team” in the MotoGP™ World Championship, according to five-time World Champion and fellow Turk Kenan Sofuoglu.
Sofuoglu is no stranger to success as he helps riders such as Razgatlioglu and Can Öncü grow and improve in the WorldSBK paddock. After claiming 2018 Rookie of the Year, 2019 saw Razgatlioglu pick up his first WorldSBK victories with a double at Magny-Cours. This season, on board the factory Yamaha in 2020, Razgatlioglu came out the blocks flying at Phillip Island to take a win and a P2 before retiring in Sunday's Race 2.
There’s no doubt about the 23-year-old’s talent and speaking to WorldSBK.com, Sofuoglu admits that Razgatlioglu has already received interest from MotoGP™. “I can tell you Toprak has already had interest from MotoGP™ and immediately I told him that it was a good offer from a good team, but our first goal was to be in Superbike with Toprak in the 2020 season,” said Sofuoglu.
“When I put him in STK1000, I told Toprak that his goal needs to be World Championships in WorldSBK for many years. If Toprak is winning so easily in WorldSBK in 2021, winning everything, if there is an official factory team offer for Toprak I will change the plan and if Toprak likes it too we will move to MotoGP™ with him. The plan is for Toprak to be historic, one of the legends in WorldSBK.”