With a few important exceptions, most of the riders on the MotoGP grid end their contract at the end of this year and the market for 2023 is already underway, although the first serious maneuvers will begin to cook during the next Sepang tests, which start at the end of January.
The Superbike world champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu , knows this and this Saturday night, around 11:30 p.m. Turkish time, he posted a whole statement on his social networks that he wants to be in that market: “I always had the dream of MotoGP 2023 Why not?” asked the spectacular Yamaha SBK team rider, closing the post with the winking emoji.
Razgatlioglu, 25, has a contract with the Yamaha SBK team until the end of 2023 after renewing for two seasons last July. The Turk has always maintained a good relationship with the Japanese manufacturer since he arrived in 2020 from Kawasaki, although he has never been able to square off an appearance in MotoGP as a wildcard, despite the fact that in 2021 there were many possibilities to do so in the Petronas team. There was also talk that Toprak was going to get on an M1 in a test before the end of the year, an image that we never saw.
In some way, Yamaha has an option on the rider before a possible arrival in the premier class in 2023, having a contract with the factory, although the reality is that Toprak could sign for whoever he wanted if he receives a firm offer from MotoGP and Yamaha he does not counteract her by offering her an official motorcycle.
The current situation does not favor an arrival of the Turk to the factory team, since Franco Morbidelli has a contract until the end of 2023, while Yamaha is trying to close the continuity of Fabio Quartararo for the next two years, until the end of 2024. Just a twist abrupt in the renewal of Fabio, which seems unthinkable right now after being the champion in 2021, could open the doors of the official training to the Turkish runner for the next course.
Under no circumstances Toprak and his mentor, representative and godfather Kenan Sofuoglu , do they consider landing in the MotoGP World Championship with a satellite team, and much less in the refounded Malaysian RNF, current team associated with Yamaha in which Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder, if the current situation in the Razlan Razali structure does not change diametrically in the coming months.
