Razgatlioglu receives championship-winning Yamaha R1

Barely a fortnight after he announced his decision to leave Yamaha and race for BMW in the 2024 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, Toprak Razgatlioglu was given the YZF R1 on which he won the championship in 2021.

The presentation to the 26-year-old Turk, made in front of fans at the Misano WorldSBK round, was attended by members of Razgatlioglu’s Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team, along with Eric de Seynes, President and CEO of Yamaha Motor Europe, who officially handed the bike over.

Also in attendance was Olivier Prevost, Vice President of Yamaha Motor Europe, Alessandro Ghezzi, President and Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Research and Development Europe, Andrea Dosoli, Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Manager and Riccardo Tisci, Yamaha Motor Research and Development Europe Project Leader.

“We returned to Superbike in 2016, and we were convinced that the R1 could be a winning machine in the hands of a top rider," said de Seynes.

"I was at Suzuka in 2019, and I saw Toprak doing extremely well, but not actually racing there in the end. I think it was a good opportunity to propose a deal with him and give him the possibility to become World Champion with us. In 2021 the dream became reality: Toprak won the championship and made our R1 a title winning bike.

“It wouldn't be possible to achieve this result if the rider wasn't fully connected with the bike - we wanted the R1 to become Toprak’s bike. It's also not possible to win if the team is not connected with the bike and knows perfectly how to find the optimum settings to make it perform at the highest level.

“It was super emotional to achieve all these things and the title, and this is why [this] is also an emotional moment, because we always said to Toprak ‘if you win the title one day, you will get your bike’.

“Honestly, I was hoping we could give him his 2024 and also 2025 World Champion bike, but finally we have to accept that, at least for now, it's over. We recognise that and this is why we would like to offer Toprak his bike in recognition of all his support and his contribution.

“It’s not our bike, this is his bike, so we feel happy that it will be in his hands.”

Razgatlioglu’s 2021 championship with Yamaha broke a six-year stranglehold that Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki had on WorldSBK. It was also the culmination of an epic season that went down to the final round at Mandalika in Indonesia.

The 2021 world championship was not only significant for Razgatlioglu, being his first after four years in WorldSBK, but it also broke a drought for Yamaha that stretched back to 2009 when Ben Spies won the title. Razgatlioglu’s performance also contributed to Yamaha winning the manufacturers’ championship in 2021; their first since 2007.

“When I was watching the video from the 2021 season, I was very emotional and felt tears coming; it brought back so many memories,” Razgatlioglu explained.

“Starting from 2019 when Yamaha showed their belief in me and we signed together, it took us two years to get the world title, but we did it and I will remember that feeling forever.

“Now, after four years, I’m very sad to leave, but at the same time I’m happy because Yamaha is a true family and we did it together, it wasn’t just me, there was a team of great people by my side.

“I want to say thanks for this unbelievable gift, I’m very surprised and touched to receive it, and thank you very much for everything Yamaha have done for me.”

The Misano round saw Razgatlioglu continue his streak of finishing on the podium of every race he’s completed this year. Only of those has been a win, though, as like the rest of this year’s WorldSBK grid, Razgatlioglu has had to play second fiddle to Aruba.it Racing’s Alvaro Bautista, who had won every race except one (as of the conclusion of the Misano round).