BMW on Top-Rak as it Makes History With Maiden WSBK Title

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s record-breaking 2024 WorldSBK campaign has ended with him claiming BMW’s first superbike title.

Razgatlioglu, who joined BMW after four seasons with Yamaha, has taken the M1000 RR to a level no rider had previously managed.

Of course, the title win suggests he did just that, but there are finer details which show just how incredible the Turkish star was in 2024.

Razgatlioglu smashed the all-time consecutive race win record as he went on a 13-race win streak from Assen to race two in Portimao. In fact, Razgatlioglu’s record was broken because of injury rather than another rider getting the better of him.

That’s exactly what happened in Jerez though as Nicolo Bulega beat Razgatlioglu in two out of the three races, however, second in race one to the Italian was all that Razgatlioglu needed.

Without suffering his injury at Magny-Cours which resulted in him missing six races, Razgatlioglu would likely have secured the title in Estoril (the penultimate round) if not earlier.

Winner of the championship with over 500 points, Razgatlioglu was the only rider to accomplish that feat while he was also 282 points clear of the next best BMW and team-mate Michael Van Der Mark.

A truly stunning first season with BMW, Razgatlioglu said: “What does it like to be the World Champion? Right now, I have no stress and I’m not excited. For me, the season is finished. We have two more races tomorrow, but I’m just going to enjoy them and race without any stress.

“It’s been a long season. Nobody believed in me or BMW at the start but now everyone understands that we are the World Champions.

“This is a team effort because everyone worked hard and tried to improve in every race. Finally, we are World Champions and it’s incredible.

“BMW has never won the title before. I’ve got my second title and BMW has their first World Championship title. I’ll be using the number one next season because BMW deserves it after their first title.”

Razgatlioglu ended the season in style as he beat Bulega to victory in race two at Jerez and the plaudits from his team flooded in.

BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Flasch told WorldSBK.com: “This is a landmark for BMW and we’re very excited that we achieved this. I think we really deserved it. We’re supportive of motorsport in general as BMW, and motorsport is all about heroic stories.

“Everybody likes heroes and Toprak has shown what it means not just to be champion or a professional athlete, but also with his attitude and the way he shares the value of the brand, BMW are very happy about that.

“A friend of mine in the USA said there are different categories of riders, and Toprak is definitely an alien because he brings the sport to the next level. At the same time, he’s humble.

“The way he came back after his accident was amazing to me, and it shows how strong he is mentally.”

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