Rumours about Toprak Razgatlioglu’s return to BMW: What’s behind them

Toprak Razgatlioglu and BMW have written a remarkable success story in the Superbike World Championship. In 66 races – he missed six rounds due to injury – the Turkish rider raced onto the podium 58 times, 39 of those as the winner. In 2024, the riding maestro secured the German manufacturer’s first world title in a solo motorcycle world championship in over 100 years of the company’s history, and followed that up with a second in 2025.

Subsequently, the three-time champion – having already triumphed with Yamaha in 2021 – signed a two-year MotoGP contract with the brand featuring the crossed tuning forks in its logo and now rides a somewhat uncompetitive M1 for the Prima Pramac Yamaha team. Toprak’s first season in the premier class has been a struggle; sitting 21st in the World Championship at the summer break with twelve points, he is directly behind his team-mates Jack Miller (19 points) and Alex Rins (21 points), with only Fabio Quartararo standing out from the quartet in 14th place with 55 points. Among the 22 regular riders, only the chronically injured Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), on ten points, is placed behind Razgatlioglu.

With results like these, speculation is rife. For days now, rumours have been circulating online that Toprak would be leaving Yamaha after this MotoGP season to race for BMW again in the World Superbike Championship.

BMW is keeping in touch with Toprak

The truth couldn’t be further from that. “There have been no discussions along those lines,” BMW racing director Sven Blusch emphasised to SPEEDWEEK.com. “My feeling, having met Toprak, is that he’s slowly settled into the paddock and will be staying there for a while. If there were a possibility of bringing him back, we’d always be open to discussions. But I don’t see that happening at the moment. We’ll see how he gets on with the 850. Once he switches to a car, at the latest, we’ll have another chance.”

The same can be said from Toprak’s side; he will see out his two-year contract in MotoGP. For him, it was clear from the outset that 2026 is a learning year, in which he unfortunately has to ride one of the worst Yamahas of the past decades. But 2027 will mark the start of a new era in MotoGP: engine capacity will be reduced from 1,000 to 850 cc, and technical gimmicks such as height-adjustable suspension and oversized wings on the fairings will be banned. And particularly important for the rider with 78 Superbike World Championship race wins to his name: from then on, the series will switch to Pirelli tyres instead of Michelin, the tyres on which Toprak had raced throughout his entire career prior to MotoGP.

Toprak’s MotoGP career hinges on Yamaha

One thing is clear: if Yamaha does not produce a significantly better bike for 2027 and Toprak continues to languish in the bottom quarter of the field, then, at the age of 31, he will not be given another chance in the premier class.

The World Superbike Championship would welcome him back with open arms, but as things stand, BMW has no place for him – at least in the works team. This is because the German manufacturer intends to extend Miguel Oliveira’s contract by three years. And newcomer Brad Binder is not willing to sign a one-year deal and is also tied to a two-season contract running until the end of 2028.