Marco Bezzecchi
Toprak Razgatlioglu enters MotoGP next year as the reigning World Superbikes champion. But he faces the formidable benchmark of Marc Marquez.
Marquez won 11 races and 14 Sprints in the 18 rounds before he was injured. He sealed the world championship with five rounds to spare.
The Spaniard is back on top after a six-year title drought. Injuries, and Honda’s decline, handed an opportunity to his rivals at the start of the decade.
But his imperious 2025 form suggests he’ll be difficult to beat before he retires from MotoGP. He may be the second-oldest rider on the grid at 32, but Alex Marquez says Marc will be fast ‘until his last day’ in the class.
Toprak Razgatlioglu says Marc Marquez’s ‘talent’ can be appreciated at Ducati
Speaking on the Fast and Curious YouTube channel, Razgatlioglu said that Marquez had underlined the ‘very strange’ nature of MotoGP. He feels that the #93’s talent wasn’t properly appreciated in his final years at Honda.
Marquez only won on three of his 42 appearances between 2020 and 2023, but this largely reflected the team’s loss of competitiveness. After leaving for Gresini and then joining Ducati, he’s reminded the world of MotoGP that he’s ‘the best’.
Razgatlioglu wishes he could have raced against Valentino Rossi but is still relishing the thought of taking on Marquez, with whom he’s already spoken on a few occasions.
Marquez congratulated Razgatlioglu after he won the WSBK title last weekend in a battle with Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega.
“Marc Marquez is a big talent,” said Razgatlioglu. “Finally, when he’s moved to the bike, he shows the potential again.
“This sport is very strange. When you are winning the race always, you are the best. When you start to lose, it’s maybe because of the bike – if your bike is not perfect, you lose. If your bike is perfect, you start to win races.
“When Marquez moved to Ducati, he won almost all the races, and now it’s easier to understand his talent.
“With Honda, he was always pushing so hard. Sometimes he’d crash, sometimes he’d finish top five, top six.
“But when he moved to the best bike, he’s going up. In MotoGP, the bike is really important.
“I’ll just try to do my best with Yamaha, and I’m also very happy racing with Marc Marquez on the same track. This is very good for me.
“I sometimes talk with him. Outside we are friends, but inside maybe I’ll fight with him.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu asked whether he can beat Marc Marquez
In the same interview, Razgatlioglu was asked whether he could topple Marquez. He was keen to stress that he’ll be a ‘rookie’ in MotoGP next year, an unusual designation for a 29-year-old.
“Now it’s not easy to say this,” he explained. “If you ask me this question at the end of 2026, it’s easy to say something.
“I’m world champion here, but when I go to MotoGP, I’m a rookie. It’s strange. Ask me this question next year.”
Razgatlioglu thinks he can achieve ‘special’ things in 2027 after a year of adaptation. He’ll also have the advantage of knowing the Pirelli tyres.
The Turkish superstar is replacing Miguel Oliveira at Yamaha satellite team Pramac. Gino Borsoi’s squad are currently bottom of the teams’ standings, the only outfit without a podium of any description.
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