Toprak Razgatlioglu genius "reminds me" of seeing Casey Stoner's Ducati data

Almost all eras of motorcycle racing are characterised by riders who stand out for one reason or another; often that reason is ability, and it is this which makes Toprak Razgatlioglu similar to Casey Stoner, according to Sylvain Guintoli.

Guintoli, who raced a satellite Ducati for the Alice team in 2008 when Stoner was defending champion after winning in his first year as a Ducati rider in 2007, is uniquely placed to compare Stoner and Razgatlioglu, since he now works as an official test rider for BMW’s WorldSBK project alongside his duties on the Bavarian manufacturer’s factory Endurance World Championship team.

From the outside, Razgatlioglu and Stoner approach riding in different ways: where Razgatlioglu makes his time on corner entry, Stoner’s lap time was found on the gas, managing rear slip on corner exit.

But, for Guintoli, their respective styles are similar in their difficulty to be understood.

“To be honest, what you see is what it is,” TNT Sports MotoGP expert Guintoli told Crash.net on the subject of Razgatlioglu’s famed late braking in an interview on the Saturday of the British MotoGP.

“He’s [Razgatlioglu] extremely strong in the braking zones. His braking technique allows him to shorten that braking phase, and this is where he’s really making the difference.

“It reminds me a little bit of when I was at Ducati in MotoGP, and Stoner was riding the Ducati at the same time, and you would look at the data and you’d be like ‘I can see what he’s doing, but I can’t do it, there’s no chance, I can’t do that.’

“It’s a little bit like that – in different ways, but it’s like that.

“He’s definitely – Toprak – making the magic happen. Most of it is in the braking zones.”

Guintoli added: “When you look at the data, you can see what’s happening, but it shouldn’t be possible.

“There are special guys like that. Not many of them, but he’s definitely one of them.”

MotoGP “rumours” for Toprak Razgatlioglu

Despite his proximity to the BMW WorldSBK project, Guintoli had little to say on the matter of Razgatlioglu’s rumoured switch to MotoGP with Pramac Yamaha.

The French rider, though, did appreciate that the allure of MotoGP is something that would be attractive to any World Superbike rider.

“Toprak [Razgatlioglu] is of course an exceptional rider and an exceptional talent, and what he’s done and is still doing on the BMW is very special,” Guintoli said.

“To be honest, I don’t know more than what we hear [about Razgatlioglu moving to MotoGP] – we hear a lot of rumours.

“I know he’s happy at BMW at the moment, but I can’t really tell you any more about that.

“Obviously, when you’re in Superbike – I did it the other way round, I did GP first and then went to Superbike – the MotoGP call, if you can make it happen it’s always something that you look at. Any rider would do that.”

Guintoli added that Nicolo Bulega, who is currently leading Razgatlioglu in the 2025 WorldSBK standings, has a riding style that would potentially be suited to MotoGP.

“[Bulega] started in Moto2, went to Supersport and then up to Superbike; actually his riding style is very fluid and let’s say very MotoGP-esque,” Guintoli said.

“So, why not see him in the future here? We’ll see, but what he’s doing at the moment in World Superbike is exceptional.

“Those two, at the moment, are one step ahead [of the rest of the WorldSBK field].”