Toprak Razgatlioglu’s second WorldSBK title got here in dominant style, regardless of the BMW he was using having by no means received a title earlier than.
The Turkish rider received 18 races in 2024, making him clearly a deserved champion.
“My feeling now, after the world title, I’m actually completely satisfied,” Razgatlioglu instructed WorldSBK.com.
“We deserve it, we’re the World Champions now; particularly with BMW, for me, is a tremendous season.”
“My first world title was for my dad, however this one is for myself. The primary one is all the time troublesome, the primary one could be very particular, however I’m actually completely satisfied.”
Razgatlioglu’s season was dominated by two durations of time.
The primary was a run of 13 successive victories, which Razgatlioglu defined as a type of exponential perpetuation.
“After I did the ‘hat-trick’ in Misano […], the psychological facet is ideal, completely satisfied, however after I begin the hat-trick, I do once more the hat-trick as a result of each race weekend I’m extra relaxed,” he mentioned.
The second interval and the second was the time that handed after his apply crash in Magny-Cours which left him out of motion for six races.
“The Magny-Cours crash, that is too laborious,” Razgatlioglu mentioned.
“After I come to the final sector, I lose the entrance, I hit the wall, and after I’m stopped I perceive I’m not taking breaths. I’m turning instantly and making an attempt to start out respiration once more.
“I take very brief breaths, and I begin to come again to respiration. After I return to the hospital, I’m not good, as a result of my lung is [punctured].
“After the crash, daily I’m serious about my goal, I’m simply making an attempt to return again shortly and be preventing for the title once more.
“I attempted to return again in Cremona — we checked the scan once more, and I’ve nonetheless the air inside my lung. Just a bit bit, however the medical doctors and Monica [Lazzarotti, WorldSBK chief medical officer] say this [racing in Cremona] could be very harmful.
“If I don’t come again to the Aragon race, I feel I lose the championship. After I go to the medical doctors to test in Aragon, the physician says ‘Wonderful’, and I virtually cried there.
“After Aragon, after I return to Turkiye, lastly, I eat very particular meals with my mum, and I did many trainings in Kenan’s [Sofuoglu] observe, and my psychological facet is getting extra robust. After I go to Estoril, I’m feeling like Toprak, actual Toprak.”
Razgatlioglu received 4 races throughout the ultimate two rounds in Estoril and Jerez, sealing the title within the Superpole Race on the remaining spherical.
After clinching the title, Razgatlioglu was greeted by virtually the whole WorldSBK discipline.
“After I stopped on the first nook, all riders, virtually, stopped for me; additionally Alvaro [Bautista] stopped after [his] crash,” Razgatlioglu mentioned.
“I’m completely satisfied as a result of this is sort of a ‘household’ second, and I’m actually completely satisfied using with everybody within the Superbike paddock.”
Razgatlioglu added: “No one believed in BMW, no one believed in me after I signed. Everybody mentioned ‘This isn’t resolution, why signal with BMW, you’re loopy’.
“My brother additionally didn’t imagine; he was scared. He mentioned, ‘Why have you ever signed with BMW? No one has received with this bike’. I mentioned ‘Be calm, we’ve some plans’. Now, he’s very completely satisfied.
“After I come to BMW, and I’m feeling very heat, everybody very hungry for the title, everybody working very laborious.
“This was actually good teamwork, not simply my facet, additionally everybody — like a household. I’m very completely satisfied for BMW, for the crew, and for myself.”
Because of the hassle he recognised in BMW, Razgatlioglu will run the #1 plate in 2025.
“I don’t like loads the #1, I really like the #54, however BMW deserves it,” he mentioned. “For BMW, I’ll use the #1.”
