Razgatlioglu has attracted MotoGP interest - manager
World Superbike front-runner Toprak Razgatlioglu has already attracted interest from MotoGP teams and could make the move in future with the right offer, says his manager Kenan Sofuoglu.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Pata Yamaha
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Turkish rider Razgatlioglu scored his first WSBK wins last year aboard a Puccetti Kawasaki but acrimoniously splitting with the Japanese marque at the end of the season, having been benched during the Suzuka 8 Hours.
Switching to Yamaha for 2020, the 23-year-old won March's season opener at Phillip Island before the season was interrupted by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Sofuoglu, himself a five-time champion in World Supersport, revealed that Razgatlioglu had the opportunity to move to MotoGP for this year but that his protege's first priority is to become champion in WSBK.
He added that while the plan is for his charge to become a "legend" of WSBK, plans could change if a factory MotoGP team came knocking in 2021.
He told the World Superbike official website: “I can tell you Toprak has already had interest from MotoGP, and immediately I told him that it was a good offer from a good team, but our first goal was to be in Superbike with Toprak in the 2020 season.
"And if he can do that, and it doesn’t matter that in 2020 we are 100 percent in WorldSBK. When I put him in STK1000, I told Toprak that his goal needs to be world championships in WorldSBK for many years.
“If Toprak is winning so easily in WorldSBK in 2021, winning everything, if there is an official factory team offer for Toprak I will change the plan and if Toprak likes it too we will move to MotoGP with him."
Sofuoglu admits he lacked ambition
Sofuoglu, who manages twin brothers Deniz and Can Oncu as well as Razgatlioglu, admits he "gave up" too easily on the two occasions that he ventured outside of his World Supersport comfort zone during his own career.
The 35-year-old's first SSP title in 2007 was followed by a campaign in WSBK in 2008 on board a Ten Kate-run Honda, but he managed only 18th in the standings before returning to SSP full-time the following season.
Following his second title in the category in 2010, he switched to Moto2 for 2011 as a replacement for the late Shoya Tomizawa at Technomag-CIP, scoring a podium with a second-place finish at Assen but concluding the year down in 17th overall.
He returned to SSP in 2012 and scored a further three titles, the last of which came in 2016, before retiring from racing in 2018.
Kenan Sofuoglu, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“My dream when I was riding a bike in Turkey was to race in World Supersport," said Sofuoglu. "Not to win the World Championship, to race in WorldSSP.
"I raced in Supersport and won the Championship five times. Maybe I didn’t put enough ambition on myself to be champion in WorldSBK or move to Moto2 or MotoGP. I tried a little bit, but I didn’t see what I wanted in a short time, so I actually gave up.
"I’m more than happy with what I’ve done in Supersport and to open the door for Turkish riders in the future."
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