Razgatlioglu leaves Yamaha, joins BMW for 2024 WorldSBK

The rider roster for the 2024 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship has had its first shake up, with Toprak Razgatlioglu to leave Yamaha at the end of this season for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team.

The announcement on 22 May led to immediate questions over who Razgatlioglu will replace at the BMW factory team, followed by who will take the Turk’s place at Yamaha.

Currently, Scott Redding and Michael van der Mark are BMW’s factory riders. Despite the latter being out with injury since April, it’s expected Redding (who only joined the team this year) will be ousted to make way for Razgatlioglu.

“Toprak is undoubtedly one of the best riders in the field at the moment, which he proved by winning the 2021 World Championship title,” said Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director. “He's not just a fast motorcycle racer, he's also a great personality off the track. We are convinced that Toprak will settle into the BMW Motorrad Motorsport family very quickly. We are looking forward to our collaboration and our future together.”

Dr. Markus Schramm, Head of BMW Motorrad, added: “We are delighted to welcome [Toprak] to our WorldSBK factory squad from next season on. I am very proud that Toprak has opted to join BMW Motorrad. This is a forward-looking step for our project and a strong commitment of BMW Motorrad Motorsport in World Superbike.”

European Superstock 600 Champion in 2015 and runner-up in the European Superstock 1000 class in 2017, Razgatlioglu stepped up to WorldSBK in 2018, initially with Puccetti Kawasaki, then the factory Yamaha team from 2020. Razgatlioglu’s first podiums came in his debut season and his first race wins in 2019.

In 2020, the young Turk won three races during his first year on the factory Yamaha YZF R1, then ended Jonathan Rea’s six-year run of championships to win the 2021 WorldSBK title, also ending Yamaha’s drought in the category that went back to 2009.

BMW will no doubt be hoping Razgatlioglu’s addition will improve their results in WorldSBK, as their return to the category as a factory team in 2019 has reaped only one win so far; achieved by van der Mark in 2021.

At the time of the BMW announcement on 22 May, Razgatlioglu’s record stood at 33 wins and 83 total podiums; 31 and 78 of which were achieved with Yamaha. In this year's season, the 26-year-old has finished on the podium of every race he;s completed, but was still 86 points behind championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) following the Misano round on 3-4 June.