Toprak Razgatlioglu is setting himself lofty targets ahead of his first full season with the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team as he looks to get back on terms with current dominant figure, Alvaro Bautista.

The 2021 WorldSBK Champion makes the bold switch from Yamaha to BMW this year in an attempt to claw back ground on Bautista and Ducati in the title race.

Having determined he was unable to go further with Yamaha after a herculean effort in 2023 saw him take Bautista down to the wire in the title battle - despite a gulf in race-winning success of 27 wins to Razgatlioglu’s seven - the Turk has high hopes that a change of scenery with BMW will evolve the M 1000 RR into a victorious package.

“I’m always ready”,he said.  “In Portimao, the first time I rode the bike, I was smiling on the straight, because the bike is very fast. We need to just improve some things, but we are not far. We need more laps; we need more kilometres”.

“The electronics, exactly [when prompted on where to improve]. In general, the bike is very good. Especially, the engine brake is unbelievable, the bike is stopping. We just need to improve in some areas, for my style.

“I only rode alone, I didn’t see other Superbike riders, I need some riders, some fighting, to see the lap times”.

“The first race is a little bit difficult. Phillip Island is always a hard race because you need to keep your rear tyre. We’ll see”.

“BMW are working every day. This is good. When I see BMW working, I work even more. And if we work like this, I think we can be World Champions. I don’t know if this year or next year, but I believe this, we are not far.”