"Many people thought Razgatlioglu made the wrong decision with BMW" - Kenan Sofuoglu

06/04/2024 09:51

Kenan Sofuoglu has spoken out about the vindication of Toprak Razgatlioglu's decision to leave Yamaha in favour of BMW for the 2024 WorldSBK Championship, saying many felt he'd influenced the Turkish rider into the wrong decision.

Last year Razgatlioglu caught the paddock by surprise by announcing he would leave Yamaha - where he clinched the 2021 WorldSBK Championship - in favour of BMW despite a disparity of performance between the two manufacturers at the time.

However, after two rounds of the season, Razgatlioglu has been a revelation with the Shaun Muir Racing-run team, scoring two wins at the most recent Catalunya WorldSBK event. Prior to that, BMW had won just one race since 2011.

It's a result that goes a long way to vindicating a decision many felt had been erroneously engineered by Razgatlioglu's manager and five-time WorldSSP Champion Sofuoglu.

"Last year, we made a big decision to BMW, and I gave a lot of support to Toprak to make this decision," he told the WorldSBK website. 

"So many people thought we made the wrong decision. As a rider, I believed the BMW was a very good bike. The first meeting I spoke to BMW, the team and the manager spoke about it, and I thought they had a very good bike. 

"I thought, 'You have one very nice puzzle, and one piece is missing' which is Toprak. Everything's going very well now, he's winning in the second round."

Though a number of riders - including Michael van der Mark, Scott Redding and Loris Baz - have each struggled for consistent form befitting of their results at previous teams, Razgatlioglu has taken to the BMW M 1000 RR with aplomb.

Indeed, Sofuoglu firmly believes Razgatlioglu has the strength to become world champion again with BMW this year.

"We believed a lot, but we weren't sure when we can win. After winter testing, I started to believe more. But I was believing we can win at Assen or Donington, I didn't expect it in Barcelona! 

"Barcelona's not Toprak's favourite track but he's so strong. Toprak's in his sixth season in WorldSBK and if I look at all the winter testing times, Toprak is stronger this year with BMW, and I understand he's going to be favourite for the title."

"Definitely [he can win the title]. When we signed, it was for two years but we didn't know when; first year or second year. We were believing more for the second season. 

"After winter testing, I thought, 'Toprak can win the Championship this year with this bike'. The bike is nicer than we expected."

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