Toprak is rubbing his hands with glee: in 2027, he’ll finally be battling it out with Nicolò Bulega again

When Nicolò Bulega moved up to the Superbike category with Ducati after winning the 2023 Supersport World Championship, Toprak Razgatlioglu switched from Yamaha to BMW. Even the experts weren’t entirely sure what either of them would be capable of. In the end, the Italian and the Turk engaged in two seasons of thrilling and hard-fought, yet fair, battles. Each season ended with Razgatlioglu claiming the world title and Bulega finishing as runner-up.

After Razgatlioglu moved to MotoGP for 2026, the Ducati rider no longer had any rival to fear and has racked up 26 wins in 27 races. Bulega’s only defeat came at the hands of his team-mate Iker Lecuona. No one is in any doubt: as early as Cremona, the tenth round of the season, the 26-year-old could secure the title ahead of schedule.

Regular readers of SPEEDWEEK.com will already know that Bulega will be riding for Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP team next year. Then the former Superbike rivals will face each other again in the premier class. “I’ve always said that he deserves to be in MotoGP because he has the right riding style for it. He’s finally making the step up,” said Razgatlioglu, delighted for Bulega. “That’s good, because he’s young and comes from Ducati. They’ve paved the way for him via the Superbike World Championship, and this challenge is even more important. He’s almost got the title in the bag. He’s learnt a lot and is now moving up to MotoGP.”

As Ducati’s official MotoGP test rider, Bulega is making the move well prepared – much better than the Turkish rider was a year ago. “For him, it’s the perfect time with the 850cc bikes and Pirelli. He’s completed plenty of tests on the MotoGP bike and with the Pirelli tyres,” says Toprak. “It looks as though he’s ready. I hope we’ll continue to battle with him for victory in MotoGP!”

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