Toprak Razgatlioglu wins 2021 World Superbike Championship
For the first time since 2015, the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WSBK) has a new champion. Toprak Razgatlioglu of the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK team clinched the title at the final round of this year’s 13-round series, ending Jonathan Rea’s six-year hold on the championship.
In his second year with the factory Yamaha team and only his fourth year in WSBK, Razgatlioglu was in the mix for the 2021 championship from early on. Importantly, the 25-year-old from Sakarya, Turkey, was consistent, with only three DNFs across the entire 37-race season, none of which were of his own doing.
With Kawasaki Racing Team’s Rea, as well as Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Scott Redding to contend with, Razgatlioglu’s march to this year’s WSBK title started with a race win in Round 3 at Misano, then two more in Round 4 at Donington. Those victories saw the Turk take the championship lead from Rea for the first time. He’d lose it in the very next round at Assen, but regain it again at Magny Cours in Round 8.
For Round 11 at Portimao, two retirements from Rea saw that margin stretch to 24 points, but Razgatlioglu’s own DNF robbed him of an even greater lead.
Heading into the thirteenth and final round at the all-new Mandalika street circuit in Indonesia, Razgatlioglu’s championship lead was 30 points, which was a healthy advantage, but Rea remained within striking distance.
A maximum haul of 62 points for the round was cut to 50 when inclement weather saw Race 1 rescheduled to Sunday morning and the 12-point Tissot Superpole Race cancelled. This clearly advantaged Ragzatlioglu, which meant Rea would have to win both races and the Turk DNF at least one to stand any chance of defending his title for a sixth time.
While Rea did win Race 1, it wasn’t enough. Razgatlioglu finished second, taking a 25-point lead, which technically meant the championship was drawn ahead of Race 2, but Razgatlioglu’s greater number of race wins – 13 to Rea’s 11 – meant the title was his even if Rea won the final race.
The Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK team were prepared, bringing a privacy screen onto the track after Race 1 so Razgatlioglu could change into a set of golden leathers and matching helmet, while his Yamaha YZF-R1 received similar golden detailing, including a ‘1’ incorporated into his signature ‘54’ race number (54 is a tribute to Razgatlioglu’s manager and five-time World Supersport champion, Kenan Sofuoglu).
With the championship already decided, Race 2 was a formality, but Rea won again and Razgatlioglu finished fourth in a rain-shortened event.
The final points tally in the 2021 WSBK championship was 564 points to Razgatlioglu and 551 to Rea.
A Humble Champion
“I don’t know what to say, but it’s a very special day for me,” an emotional Razgatlioglu said after wrapping up the championship. “Not easy races, I tried my best, and in the end, we came out on top! This year there were many races, many difficult moments, but we tried our best and it’s good to be here as Champions.
“To win against Johnny [Rea] is good. He is a WorldSBK legend, a six-time champion and he’s always good in the wet conditions, also in the dry - every race he is there.
“Congratulations to all riders, everyone tried their best. The season is over now, and it’s good to see Yamaha champions again.”
Razgatlioglu dedicated his world championship to his father, Arif, a famous stunt rider in Turkey, who passed away in 2017 after a road bike accident.
“This title is for my Dad. It has been an incredible day, he always said that one day we will see you as World Champion, so I say again this is for him and I hope he would be happy.
“I want to thank Yamaha and my great team, they deserve this! I want more next season, I will fight again and I will try every race to win.”
Razgatlioglu has at least two more years with Yamaha to do that, having signed a contract extension back in July that will keep him on an R1 for the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK team until the end of the 2023 WSBK season.
Making History
Razgatlioglu’s 2021 WSBK title is the first for a Turkish rider in the category’s history and Yamaha’s second, following Ben Spies’s title back in 2009.
Interestingly, Razgatlioglu is the only WSBK champion to have also won a title in one of the support categories, specifically European Superstock 600 in 2015.
A 25, Razgatlioglu is the third youngest WSBK champion, behind James Toseland and Troy Corser.
In 2020, Razgatlioglu won the opening race and was an early title contender before a string of poor performances in the second half of the season. This year, Razgatlioglu didn’t take his first race win until the fourth round, but was never lower than fourth throughout the entire championship.
In a somewhat spooky set of numbers, not only was this year’s World Superbike Championship decided in the 13th round, Rea and Razgatlioglu won 13 races each and finished the championship 13 points apart.
The Path to the World Championship
Born into a motorcycling family in 1996, Toprak Razgatlioglu started racing motocross aged 5, winning four national championships before moving to circuit racing at 11.
Two seasons in the IDM Yamaha R6 Cup in Germany, combined with the Turkish Road Race 600cc Championship, led to an invite to be part of the Red Bull Rookies Cup programme in 2013. Taking podiums in his first year, Razgatlioglu won his first race in the category a year later.
As he was outgrowing (literally – Razgatlioglu is one of the tallest riders on the WSBK grid) the Moto3-spec machinery in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, Razgatlioglu’s mentor and manager (and five-time World Supersport Champion), Kenan Sofuoglu, entered him in an FIM European Superstock 600 race at Magny Cours in 2014, which the 17-year-old won. That led to a full season in Superstock 600 in 2015, where Razgatlioglu won the first five races of the seven-race series to easily claim the championship.
Moving up to European Superstock 1000 a year later, Razgatlioglu was unable to replicate his success from 2015, but remained in the category for two years and managed three race wins and a runner-up finish in the 2017 championship behind Michael Ruben Rinaldi.
Rather than cut his teeth in World Supersport, Razgatlioglu stepped straight from Superstock 1000 into World Superbike in 2018, joining the satellite Puccetti Kawasaki squad and making his debut on the ZX10-RR at Phillip Island, where he finished with 13-10 results. Razgatlioglu did pick up a couple of podiums - at Donington and San Juan de Villicum – in his debut WSBK year and finished ninth in the championship.
Remaining with Puccetti Kawasaki for 2019 (rebranded as Turkish Puccetti Racing), Razgatlioglu took further podiums before his first WSBK win, achieved at Magny-Cours; his favourite track and the scene of many victories in the past.
Razgatlioglu’s performance in the 2019 season saw him attract attention from factory teams, leading the 23-year-old to a deal with Pata Yamaha for the 2020 season. On the factory Yamaha YZF-R1, Razgatlioglu won the season opening race and took a podium at Phillip Island before COVID-19 dramatically impacted the season. Despite this, Razgatlioglu continued to greet the podium and took two more wins at the 2020 season finale in Estoril to finish fourth in the championship.
This year’s WSBK Championship was also impacted by COVID, but Razgatlioglu was able to build on his 2020 momentum and mark him himself as the most consistent challenger to defending champion Jonathan Rea.
The title was no certainty, though, as Rea fought back, leading to the dramatic final-round battle for the title.