Jonathan Rea has joked he shouldn’t have helped out Toprak Razgatlioglu during his first season i🤪n the WorldSBK Championship after tipping 🐼him as the candidate most likely to succeed him on the title roster.

The Ulsterman heads into the 2020 WorldSBK season on a record-breaking run of five titles but faces fresh challenges from different corners this year following a shake up in the rider market 🅠over the winter.

With Alvaro Bautista – Rea’s closest rival in 2019 – defecting to Honda, ex-MotoGP rider S๊cott Redding replaces him at Ducati, while Alex Lowes has already given a hint of his potential by winning first time out with Kawasaki in Australia.

However, it’s Razgatlioglu that Rea believes has the best shot at e✃ither ending ღhis WorldSBK title run or taking up the mantle when he retires.

The Turk made his full-time WorldSBK debut in 2018 on the privateer Puccetti Kawཧa꧟saki and emerged as a front-runner in 2019, notching up a pair of wins at Magny-Cours. For 2020 he has switched to the factory Pata Yamaha team, marking his debut with the outfit by claiming a victory at Phillip Island.

“Young Toprak that came up from within the Kawasaki family and now he’s at Yamaha,” he told the official WorldSBK website. “I have a soft spot for him because he was a pretty raw tal🦩ent in Superstock, he really flattered the bike.

“I always helped him out in his first year of Superbikes – I’m kind of regretting th𝔍at now! He’s the real deal. I feel like I’m not done with world championships, but I feel like he’ll be the n♑ext one.”

Rea also discussed Bautista surpriℱse move to leave Ducati in favour of the new Team HRC Honda project, saying he doesn’t think it’s ‘such a bad decision’.

“My management🦄 have spoken to Ducati probably every year, so I know how good th🔯e package is that Chaz is on. He takes most of that budget, so I think probably Alvaro felt pretty undervalued, getting the drags of the rider budget and obviously Honda came and with a big new proposal.

“Also, when you put a HRC stamp on something and they tell you they’re serious, you’ve got to sit up and think they’ll get it right. Maybe not in 2020 but I think they’re in it to try and win it. Iജ don’t think it’s such a bad decision.”