Toprak: ‘Why you ask this’? - non-committal about prospect of riding other bikes

After beginning his WorldSBK career with Kawasaki, Razgatlioglu has become one of the best riders in the world whilst aboard Yamaha machinery.

At one with his Yamaha R1, Razgatlioglu became world champion in 2021 before putting together another stunning season last year.

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The Turkish star won more races than his title-winning season but was unable to overcome the combination of Alvaro Bautista and Ducati. 

Despite losing out to the Spaniard by over 70 points, Razgatlioglu produced two hat-tricks, one of which included setting pole position and claiming fastest laps in each race which was Mandalika, a race weekend he summarised as his best of the year.

Razgatlioglu told WordSBK.com: "Mandalika [was the best moment] because I took everything - Superpole, first race, Superpole race, second race, fastest laps, everything."

However, it was the round prior in Argentina where Razgatlioglu saw his faint title hopes become even more unlikely after making his first individual mistake in over two years.

Talking about his worst moment of the 2022 season, Razgatlioglu added: "Argentina because after two years was my first mistake. I tried hard braking and I crashed. After the crash I passed Alvaro at the same corner and I won [the next race]."

Razgatlioglu, who could be in contention for a switch to MotoGP with Yamaha in 2024, was then asked if there’s a different bike he would like to try in WorldSBK, to which he joked: "Why do you ask this question? Okay, skip!"

Whether the 2023 season is his last in WorldSBK or not, Razgatlioglu will again have to contend with the incredible straight-line speed of Bautista and the brand new Panigale V4 R.

After years of making tweaks to its 2019 Panigale V4 R, Ducati has introduced an upgraded machine that could be even faster, something Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea won’t want to hear.

With that in mind, plus the deficit he already faced compared to Bautista last season, there’s no surprise that having greater top speed is ‘my dream’, said the Yamaha man.

"For Alvaro, in the straight he is very fast and this is my dream to have a fast bike on the straight."