It is news that has long been coming, ever since the Suzuka 8-Hours, but now it is official. Toprak Razgatlioglu will be leaving Puccetti Racing at the end of the season to race with the factory Pata Yamaha WorldSBK team in 2020.
Toprak Razgatlioglu will replace Alex Lowes in the Pata Yamaha squad, racing alongside Michael van der Mark, who will start his fourth season with the factory Yamaha team.
The news bodes well for the 22-year-old Turkish rider, who has become a rising star in the WorldSBK paddock.
Though tipped to move into the factory Kawasaki Racing Team, alongside Jonathan Rea, paddock gossip says that Razgatlioglu felt snubbed by the team during his time at Suzuka, which lead to him accepting Yamaha’s offer.
Now coming off a magnificent race win at Magny-Cours, where he took his first World Superbike win, Razgatlioglu is ready for the next step in his career.
“Toprak Razgatlıoğlu is the most exciting young rider in WorldSBK 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 WorldSBK, 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 WorldSBK grid next year.”
Source: WorldSBK
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