Marco Bezzecchi
Danilo Petrucci wants to “copy” how Toprak Razgatlioglu rode the BMW in the World Superbike Championship to maximise the bike’s braking potential after replacing him.
Razgatlioglu finally leaving World Superbikes for MotoGP with Pramac, on a two-year factory Yamaha contract, from 2026 created a space at BMW that the German outfit elected to offer to Petrucci. The Italian joined BMW after spending three years at Barni Spark riding a Ducati.
Only Razgatlioglu had been able to enjoy success aboard the BMW M1000RR last year, as he secured the World Superbike title in his last act before joining the Pramac MotoGP team. He denied Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega the 2025 title by 13 points after taking 21 wins from 36 races.
The Turkish star even reached 31 podiums, as the only rider to reach a rostrum on the BMW, while teammate Michael van der Mark only bagged 12th in the standings. Petrucci currently ranks 11th in the 2026 World Superbike standings, while teammate Miguel Oliveira is fourth.
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Danilo Petrucci wants to ‘copy’ Toprak Razgatlioglu’s braking style after seeing his BMW data
Oliveira joined BMW after losing his seat at Pramac to Razgatlioglu, and the Portuguese star has also taken three World Superbike podiums since he left the MotoGP paddock. He came home in P3 during all three of the races at Portimao, while Petrucci’s best result so far is P6.
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In his search for more performance aboard the BMW M1000RR, Petrucci has looked back at Razgatlioglu’s data from the 2025 campaign. Razgatlioglu’s widely acclaimed braking ability stands out to Petrucci as one way he made a difference, which he now hopes to try to copy.
Petrucci told GPOne: “He’s really, really good at bringing together all the bike’s best features. Sure, in 2024, they had the concessions, which helped them a lot, and allowed them to build the bike. And in 2025, he did, I must say, a tremendous job.
“Because it’s not just that he rides hard, he rides in a way where he brakes really hard. But above all, he manages to turn the bike in the final section so that he can get it back up as quickly as possible. So, he wasn’t just a braker. And it’s clear that he’s a brilliant rider.
“But let’s say you can get close to him, you can improve in certain areas. As I said at Assen, for example, I was consistently faster than him. And that pleased me a lot. I was faster than I was last year, so that means we’re on the right track.
Toprak Razgatlioglu has already crashed more in 2026 than he did in the whole of last season!
“Toprak is certainly a huge talent, because, after all, braking at the limit at the very last moment and stopping the bike isn’t as straightforward as it seems, because this bike really has to be ridden at the limit all the time.
“He’s taken that factor to the extreme, so to speak. And, at the moment, we need to try and copy a bit of what he does, but at the same time adapt it to what we have.”
Razgatlioglu maintaining parts of his riding style that helped him win three World Superbike titles since moving to MotoGP has even seen him adapt fairly well through the early rounds of his new career. The Turkish ace has quickly shown he is a match for Jack Miller at Pramac.
Factory Yamaha MotoGP rider Fabio Quartararo praised Razgatlioglu in America for using the riding style that he honed in the World Superbike Championship to nurse his tyres, too. But like Petrucci with BMW in World Superbikes, Razgatlioglu is still adapting to the Yamaha M1.
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