The arrival of Toprak Razgatlioglu to MotoGP is “an exciting thing”, Jorge Lorenzo says, but the level of the WorldSBK championship Razgatlioglu has dominated is proven by a different rider.

Razgatlioglu has won 38 races in the past two World Superbike seasons and is second on the all-time winners list with 78 victories. He arrives in MotoGP in 2026 as a three-time World Champion and only the third rider in WorldSBK history to win titles on two brands (BMW and Yamaha) after James Toseland (Ducati and Honda) and Troy Corser (Ducati and Suzuki).

Razgatlioglu’s two-year dominance with BMW came after a two-year period of dominance by Alvaro Bautista and Ducati, the Spaniard winning 43 across the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

And it’s Bautista’s dominance that proves WorldSBK’s level, to three-time MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, since Bautista never won a MotoGP race and scored only on pole position in a premier class career that lasted almost a decade.

“It’s an excitement, an exciting thing, Toprak [Razgatlioglu] in MotoGP,” Jorge Lorenzo told the MotoGP world feed broadcast during the Valencia test on 18 November.

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“We are all waiting for him to understand in the first year how he will do. 

“Yes, I believe Superbike has less levels of riders, this is clear because Bautista rode in Superbikes and started winning races like crazy, and in MotoGP he was top-five, top-seven, top-nine, but not one of the strongest. 

“Bulega is also very strong; Ben Spies, Colin Edwards – they are very good riders, but MotoGP is another level.”

Lorenzo admitted that Razgatlioglu’s riding ability is “unbelievable”, but feels the Turkish star will not be aided in his first year by his machinery.

“Toprak can be one of the best Superbike riders in history, his technique is unbelievable, especially the front brake,” Lorenzo said.

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“But I think neither the tyres, neither the Yamaha will help him to show immediately his level.

“Yamaha is very rigid, is very for corner speed.

“Maybe in 2027 with Pirelli, with one year of experience of Toprak, it will be his year. Maybe he will fight for top-five, even a podium, in some races, but not during the [2026 season] he will be there in the front. I don’t believe so.”

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