Fresh off his first World Superbike victory at Magny-Cours, Toprak Razgatlioglu has been confirmed as the newest rider on the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team roster.
Razgatlioglu will replace outgoing rider Alex Lowes following the conclusion of the current season. He will be partnered with Michael van der Mark next year.
Razgatlioglu arrived in the World Superbike paddock in 2015 to contest the European 600 Superstock Championship, which he won in his debut season. A move up the European 1000 Superstock Championship followed, where the young Turkish rider was a title contender for two years before stepping up to the World Superbike class in 2018 with Puccetti Racing
Razgatlioglu immediately made his mark in the premier production class, securing two podium finishes in his debut season with second place at Donington Park and third place in the penultimate round in Argentina.
The 22-year-old has continued to shine this year, securing his first top-three finish of the season at the Italian round in Imola and finishing on the podium at every round since.
Razgatlioglu secured his maiden World Superbike win with a strong performance in race one at Magny-Cours on Saturday, where he started from 16th position and raced to the front of the field. He also won the Superpole sprint Sunday at Magny-Cours.
“Toprak Razgatlioglu is the most exciting young rider in World Superbike and I’m both happy and proud that he will race for Yamaha in 2020,” said Eric de Seynes, president of Yamaha Motor Europe. “When you consider Toprak’s progression this year, only his second in World Superbike, his prodigious talent is obvious, but so is his warrior spirit. Like his teammate for next season, Michael van der Mark, he’s a rider who always finds that little bit extra on race day and is prepared to push to the limit to overcome any obstacle. We saw that clearly in Magny-Cours, where he came from the sixth row of the grid to claim his first WorldSBK race win. We have also seen this season that Yamaha has closed the gap to our rivals on track and I’m excited to see what Toprak can do on our Yamaha YZF-R1 in 2020. With Michael and Toprak I think we will have one of the strongest and most dynamic rider line ups on the World Superbike grid next year.”