What people in the MotoGP paddock privately think of Toprak Razgatlioglu amid Honda links

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Toprak Razgatlioglu is once again being linked with a move to MotoGP. This time, there’s talk of a deal with Honda.

Honda have three seats available for the 2026 season, with only Joan Mir under contract among their current quartet. Johann Zarco is making a strong case for a factory ride, which could put Luca Marini at risk.

Neil Hodgson says he’d swap Zarco and Marini, relegating the former to LCR, but Sylvain Guintoli isn’t sure whether the Japanese giants will take that route. He thinks they could reserve a factory spot for a bigger name like Pedro Acosta or indeed Razgatlioglu.

The 28-year-old Turkish rider is a two-time World Superbike champion, having won the title last year to add to his 2021 triumph. His overall record stands at 60 wins and 147 podiums from 229 starts.

After sweeping the recent Portugal weekend, Razgatlioglu sits second in the championship. The BMW ace decried WSBK as a ‘Ducati cup’ at round one and still sits 29 points behind Nicolo Bulega.

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s reputation in MotoGP paddock suffered after underwhelming Yamaha test

According to Speedweek’s Ivo Schutzbach, MotoGP insiders don’t think Razgatlioglu is quite as ‘outstanding’ as their WSBK counterparts make out. His 2023 Yamaha test at Jerez has ‘contributed to this opinion’.

He logged 116 laps at the Grand Prix of Spain venue, lapping around seven-tenths slower than lead Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow. He was also 1.4 seconds off the ultimate pace set by Dani Pedrosa.

However, Schutzbach says Yamaha didn’t ‘pay much attention’ to their guest rider ahead of the test, which meant he wasn’t ‘ideally prepared’. They parted ways at the end of the season.

Most of the big names on the MotoGP grid are already under contract for 2026 after last year’s reshuffle. Thus, if Honda want to make a star signing for next year, they may have to look externally.

The team Toprak Razgatlioglu came close to joining for 2025 season

It emerged last month that Honda are in talks with Razgatlioglu over a seat. Naturally, BMW will do all they can to keep him, with no real prospect of the Germans entering MotoGP themselves at this stage.

However, Razgatlioglu’s relationship with BMW has ‘soured’, so even a big-money offer might not be enough to convince him. There’s a possibility that Honda could field him in WSBK at first before unleashing him in Grand Prix racing following the 2027 regulation changes.

Despite the ‘rift’ that emerged with Yamaha, Razgatlioglu spoke to Pramac over a 2025 deal. The negotiations were described as ‘in-depth’.

In the end, Pramac signed Jack Miller and Miguel Oliveira. Acosta had an intriguing conversation with Paolo Campinoti, the team boss, at the Americas GP, telling him to ‘talk to’ his manager.