Fabio Quartararo has changed his Toprak Razgatlioglu expectations after what he saw in Valencia test

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Toprak Razgatlioglu hit the track on the V4 Yamaha during Tuesday’s Valencia test, as the 2026 Pramac rookie joined the MotoGP field for the first time ahead of his debut.

Next year will see Razgatlioglu debut in the premier class of the world championship, having finally agreed to leave World Superbikes on the back of his third title. Yamaha signed the 29-year-old to a two-year works contract this July to join their satellite team Pramac from 2026.

Tuesday did not mark the first time that Razgatlioglu has ever ridden a MotoGP bike, having tested for Yamaha back in 2023. Nor was it his first time on the V4 YZR-M1 that Yamaha will field during 2026, as Razgatlioglu tested on the V4 M1 at Aragon before heading to Valencia.

Fabio Quartararo now expects Toprak Razgatlioglu to fare ‘better’ as a rookie after the Valencia test

Razgatlioglu has a lot to learn like MotoGP’s Michelin tyres, as the Turkish racer arrives after eight seasons in the World Superbike Championship which uses Pirelli tyres. Yet he was able to set the 17th-fastest lap time during the Valencia test, as the second-fastest Yamaha rider.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Toprak Razgatlioglu from net worth to nickname

Only Yamaha factory team rider Fabio Quartararo set a quicker lap time on the V4 M1 in the Valencia test than the 1:30.667 that Pramac pilot Razgatlioglu set. Quartararo set a 1:29.927 to finish in P15, while Alex Rins set a 1:30.720 for P19 and Jack Miller set a 1:30.864 for P20.

Razgatlioglu penned his fastest lap during the Valencia test on his 43rd of 53 laps, the most completed by a Yamaha rider on Tuesday. And Quartararo now expects to see Razgatlioglu achieve better results than he had initially predicted for his rookie MotoGP season next year.

Quartararo said, via The Race: “I was pretty surprised [with] how fast he was today. I think he’s going to be better than I had expected during next year.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s lap time during the Valencia test ‘impressed’ Alex Rins

Razgatlioglu’s quickest lap time during the Valencia test “impressed” Yamaha’s other factory team rider, Rins, as well as surprising Quartararo on Tuesday. The Alanya native will partner Miller at Pramac in 2026 after replacing Miguel Oliveira, who took his WSBK ride with BMW.

Rins said: “I was quite impressed with the lap time that he did. And then I asked, and they said that he fitted two soft tyres [consecutively] to do a time attack. But, yeah, you [still] need to do it.”

Razgatlioglu, himself, acknowledges that it will be hard to achieve big results during his first season as a MotoGP rider next year. But, at the same time, Razgatlioglu admits it “won’t be easy” to accept finishing outside the top 10 in MotoGP, which he knows might be the case.

The three-time World Superbike champion only finished one race outside the top 10 during his 2025 title-winning campaign, which even featured 21 wins and 31 podium finishes from 36 races. Razgatlioglu also won 13 races in a row and did the treble at five of the 12 rounds.