Toprak Razgatlioglu has managed to score points in his first season in MotoGP, but his performance at the United States Grand Prix did not meet his expectations. In his third race with Pramac Racing, the Turkish rider finished in 15th place, after surpassing his Yamaha teammates.
During the race in Austin, Razgatlioglu spent most of the time battling with the factory rider, Fabio Quartararo. Despite starting in 16th position, he demonstrated better tire management, managing to overtake the 2021 champion in the final laps.
With this result, his team adds points for the 2026 classification, and Yamaha avoids returning from Texas empty-handed. However, Razgatlioglu expressed concern about the large gap he had behind the winner, Marco Bezzecchi, with a margin of 25 seconds.
“I’m happy, but not completely. We’ve done a good job at Yamaha, but those 25 seconds are worrying. We need to improve much more,” said the rider. He also mentioned that, although he finished ahead of Quartararo, Yamaha’s ranking is not satisfactory, and his teammates are in a similar situation.
After years of difficulties, Yamaha has decided to switch to a new V4 engine for the 2026 season, which, according to Razgatlioglu, has complicated competition even further. “We can see that Yamaha is working hard to improve. I don’t know when we will be competitive, but we hope to have improvements throughout the year,” he said.
The next challenge for Razgatlioglu and the other riders will be the Jerez circuit, where MotoGP will meet from April 24 to 26. The Turk conducted a private test at this track, but he acknowledges that he needs to change his riding style to adapt to the new category. “The circuit is difficult, and my riding style needs to change to maintain speed in the corners. We’ll see if I can adapt quickly,” he concluded.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
