Despite next year being one of big changes on the MotoGP grid, this year, all eyes are on the riders. The rider market is hot and heavy, and even before the season has started, rumors have swirled around where everyone's going for the 2027 season, which will see all-new bikes and some new races.
From Pedro Acosta to Jorge Martin, the Marquez brothers, and even Bagnaia and Bezzecchi, everyone's wondering what's going to happen, who'll come out where, and, most importantly, who'll take the last crown of the 1,000cc era.
One early contender, at least if you were paying attention to all the hype surrounding him, was thought to be incoming Pramac Yamaha rider, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, who is himself a multiple champion within World Superbike. But early testing hasn't gone well for him, and whenever he speaks to the press, or someone comments on the timing sheets from pre-season testing, the phenom's star power slightly wanes.
And Razgatlıoğlu's latest comments should throw even further water onto the fires, which ain't good for his search for a MotoGP win.
Testing for Razgatlıoğlu hasn't gone his way. First, he found his riding style, which is far more aggressive than others, just wasn't working with his Pramac race bike. He told reporters that he had to be slower and smoother just to get it to get around a corner better, but that was difficult to unlearn. Which makes sense, given this and his World Superbike are very different machines.
Then it was found that he was too tall for the race bike's aerodynamics to work properly. Not an insurmountable issue, but one that'd likely take a bit to figure out, as there isn't all that much room to develop new aero on such a small package. But it's Razgatlıoğlu's latest comments that should be the most concerning, both to Pramac Yamaha, as well as his own fans.
"[Fabio Quartararo] said it was also very difficult with the new bike. I'm trying to adapt," Razgatlıoğlu told our siblings at Motorsport, adding, "He just said, ‘Stay calm, you don't need to rush, you don't need to destroy your...’ I'm always thinking corner by corner, trying to do my best, but lap time is not coming, and I'm always getting sad. But I know this, because when I moved to the MotoGP, I understood that tyres and bikes are completely different, and I need to adapt to this."
That adaptation, however, isn't happening fast enough for him, adding, "But still, I'm not really adapting, especially the front tyre. Maybe I can do hard braking, but when I am leaning, I'm not really able to trust [the bike] like the other riders. The other riders are leaning completely. When the bike starts turning, I'm leaning, but I'm already waiting to lose the front tyre. Still, I've not crashed and the bike is in one piece. But maybe I need to crash to understand the limit."
That's not a great prognosis from the motorcycle racing champ, i.e., he has to crash to find the limit. On the other hand, the famous Mario Andretti quote I have tattooed on my forearm might apply, as in "If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." Maybe Razgatlıoğlu needs a talk from the champ?
Whatever the case may be for Razgatlıoğlu's lack of pace, we're fast-approaching the start of the season, the last of the 1,000cc era, and the follow-up season to Marquez's record-breaking championship win. And with the bikes changing in 2027, we're all gonna be glued to watching riders like Razgatlıoğlu and the rest of the field.
