It’s Wednesday 27th November 2024. I’m sat in my family home in Warwickshire, England. Outside, it’s dark and chilly with temperatures of just 4 degrees Celsius but with a ‘feels like’ of 2. It’ll certainly be frosty overnight and into tomorrow morning. It’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog so I thought it was time to catch up.
Greg Haines writes from Warwickshire, England
What a racing season this has been, not least for me commentating for Eurosport in World Superbikes. Having been in that paddock since 2015, it made 2024 my tenth year there – and it’s been one of the most fascinating in the championship’s 37-year history. Not many people would have predicted that BMW would win it, even with the magician that is Toprak Razgatlioglu at the helm. What a fairy tale, not least considering the nightmare BMW and the Shaun Muir Racing squad have had over recent seasons. It proves that nice guys do win after all; I’ve met quite a few racing drivers and riders over the years but nobody comes close to Toprak in terms of humility mixed with raw talent. The guy is a phenomenon.
Some riders like to play the game, purposefully spreading rumours amongst journalists or other competitors. Razgatlioglu doesn’t do that. He doesn’t need to. They do say that some talk the talk but can’t walk the walk; Toprak definitely does his talking on the race track yet, when he is interviewed or questioned on any topic, he speaks his mind in a truthful and respectful way. The fact is he doesn’t need to apply the silly mind games because he’s better than everybody else and he knows it, not in an arrogant way but in a self-assertive and confident way. After all, in any walk of life, if you want to excel at something you have to believe you are the best.
Now the question is: where will he go in coming years? A few weeks ago, I did an interview for Motorcycle News with team boss Shaun Muir. Shaun explained that they’re already thinking of the post-Toprak times, which could come sooner rather than later considering the Turk’s two-year contract will expire at the end of 2025. As far as I’m aware from colleagues in the industry, the BMW MotoGP project is happening – but not until 2027 when the new technical regulations are introduced. However, there will be various spots on the MotoGP grid for 2026 and there’s every chance Toprak will move there then. Can he really afford to wait until ’27 and then go with a totally new manufacturer up against the might of Ducati et all? And if he does go, he’ll need a full season of testing beforehand in order to get up to speed with, amongst other things, the plethora of new circuits on which he is yet to ride. You can’t just turn up after a standard pre-season testing schedule and expect to beat the likes of Jorge Martin, Pecco Bagnaia, Pedro Acosta and of course Marc Marquez (incidentally, Marquez is my tip for the 2025 crown…although he won’t walk it).
If Toprak doesn’t go to MotoGP, he’ll stay in World Superbike with a target of winning the title for as many different manufacturers as possible. He’s only the third rider – after Troy Corser and James Toseland – to clinch it for two different marques. He could go on to win it for three or more. In fact, I’m sure he would win WorldSBK races and the title regardless of whichever factory team he joined right now. All of the current manufacturers have spoken with or made formal offers to Toprak over the last few years (very much including Ducati).
There’s no such thing as a dead cert in motorcycle racing but, if one hires Toprak to race their bike, that’s as close as you’ll ever come to a dead cert in terms of winning the championship. In 2026, China’s QJ is set to run a World Superbike project for the first time (they’re already competing in World Supersport and had some eyebrow-raising results towards the end of this year with Raffaele de Rosa). QJ is owned by Geely Holding, an absolutely enormous Chinese automotive giant; it has acquired a massive amount of companies including Volvo, Smart, Lotus, Polestar, Lynk & Co and many more – it also has pockets deeper than the Grand Canyon and I hear the big boss has already recognised they’d need Razgatlioglu if they’re serious about winning in the shortest possible time. If Toprak – who relishes a challenge – stays in the series, don’t be surprised to see QJ (in collaboration with Puccetti, for whom Toprak raced to his first podiums and wins) trying to line him up to race their superbike in the near future…you heard it first here!
Greg Haines - Commentator & Presenter 