Toprak Razgatlioglu is therefore the one who, with his Yamaha, put an end to the reign of Jonathan Rea who had dominated the WSBK championship with his Kawasaki for six consecutive seasons. The 25-year-old Turk brought back, with this feat, the world crown to an Iwata factory which had forgotten it since 2009 and which it can add to that obtained in MotoGP by Fabio Quartararo. Andrea Dosoli, the project manager and Paul Denning, the team manager for the tuning fork brand are not only delighted. They are also under the spell of Kenan Sofuoglu's protégé.
Listening to the two managers of the firm Yamaha in Superbike, Toprak Razgatlioglu is not only talented and fast. He also enjoys a certain charisma. The first to congratulate himself is the one who led him to get behind the handlebars of the R1, and it is aboutAndrea Dosoli : " Kenan Sofuoglu played a very important role in this regard. We met several times ", remember Dosoli. " We followed Toprak's career for several years. He started to achieve good results in the world championship Superbike ».
Then he specifies: “ but what impressed me the most was that when we first met, he said “ I want to go to Yamaha because I want to be world champion with Yamaha“. I will always remember these words. I was 100% sure that Toprak was the right driver for us. It was even more significant as he won the title in such a competitive season. I don't know how to thank him, I can't find the words. I congratulate him ».
« Toprak uses strange settings on the Yamaha, but it works«
Dosoli ends with this sentence: “ Toprak made no mistakes and that says a lot about his talent ". And we surprisingly find it in the mouth of Paul Denning : " Toprak made the difference by not making any mistakes ». Denning being the team manager, he saw certain things up close which revealed a practically extraordinary driver: “ Yamaha trusted Toprak. The team provided him with what he wanted, even if they were sometimes unusual requests. Sometimes it was just about tire choice. But he always managed to get by. It uses strange settings on the bike, but it works », wonders the team manager of Yamaha .
« His decisions on the track are sometimes unconventional, but ultimately, he didn't make a mistake » repeats the Briton, looking ahead to the coming years: “ we have a two-year contract with Toprak. In 2022, it will ride here, that's for sure. For 2023, we still have to wait. If he wins again here and Yamaha wants to bring him to MotoGP, then anything is possible.e » recognizes Paul Denning.
