Razgatlioglu wiܫll be aboard a different bike for the first time in fi🧜ve years after a sensational switch to BMW.

The 2021 world champion is perhaps the most well ꧃equipped rider to go from Yamaha, a perennial WorldSBK winning brand, to a bike in the M 1000 RR that has shown itself to be weaker than the R1.

• Sofuoglu: ‘I think BMW is the one that can beat Ducati, we can be champioღns’ 
• FIRST LOOK: Alvaro Bautista and ꧙Nicolo Bulega unveil 2024 Ducati

There’s no disrupting Alvaro Bautista’s achievements' at Ducati, especially in 2023 when he won 27 ou𝄹t of 37 races, but that hasn’t stopped many of his competitor🎃s from picking Razgatlioglu as the best rider last season.

And Sofuoglu,🏅 who is aware of the big challenge ahead, believes Razgatlioglu is the rider to finally take BMW from the mid-field to winning races.

“From the first day we did a two-year🏅 contract because of that, the first year can be difficult, we expect this,” Sofuoglu told WorldSBK.com during BMW’s launch. “This doesn’t mean we will be off the podium; I believe Toprak will be always fighting for the podium, at least. 

“It’s like with the Yamaha, wওe were on ꦿthe podium every race.”

“Winning is a littl💙e bit difficult. We know why. Bautista is very strong. When we were on the Yamaha, it was very difficult to beat Bautista for the win. 

“But personally, I believe i﷽n Toprak more than everyone. For that reason, I believe Toprak will surprise everyone. He’ll start with a podium… It can also be a win.” 

Testing begins this week at Jerez, before Portimao plays host to another two-day outing before the end of the month. Both tests will see all f🍰ive factory teams in attendance along with many satellite teams.