WorldSBK at Most: Toprak Razgatlioglu (almost) unbeatable

The fifth event of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) took BMW Motorrad Motorsport and the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team to Most in the Czech Republic.

There, reigning world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) on the BMW M 1000 RR proved to be – at least almost – unbeatable. ‘El Turco’ was the fastest in all practice sessions, secured pole position, won race one and the Superpole race, clocked the fastest lap in all three races, and set new lap records. In the second main race, it looked like he would complete the hat-trick until just a few metres from the finish.

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Only shortly before the finish line was long-time rival Nicolò Bulega (ITA / Ducati) able to overtake, and Razgatlioglu had to settle for second place by a mere 0.027 seconds. Teammate Michael van der Mark (NED) had double bad luck at Most. In Superpole, he was among the many riders whose fastest lap was cancelled due to a yellow flag, leaving him 15th on the grid. At the start of race one, he was involved in a multi-rider crash through no fault of his own and had to retire. On Sunday, van der Mark finished 13th and 14th.

Reactions after the Most round.

Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrrad Motorsport: “What a weekend! We’re extremely proud of the entire team – those at the track, at home, and in the test team. Everyone has worked very hard since Cremona, and that has put us in a position to take pole position and two wins. We only missed out on race two by a few hundredths of a second. Of course, that hurt, but overall, the performance Toprak showed this weekend was incredible. What he delivered on the bike was simply outstanding. All in all, we now head into the next races at Misano with a positive outlook. We’ve managed to reduce the points gap in both the riders’ and manufacturers’ standings. Mickey was strong in the practice sessions, but unfortunately unlucky in Superpole, which meant he had to start from the back and couldn’t fight his way forward properly. Now we go to Misano knowing that we can fight again and that we’re right in the mix. We’re looking forward to Italy and will give everything to close the gap even further.”

Christian Gonschor, Technical Director BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “It was once again an intense weekend here at Most, which is practically a home race for us. It’s just a few hours’ drive from Munich, and there were many fans from Germany here. Friday’s practice sessions were run under very tricky mixed conditions. Still, Toprak managed them very solidly and showed very strong race pace during a simulation in FP2. That the BMW M 1000 RR has this kind of pace was confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. In Superpole, Toprak translated the bike’s performance into a perfect lap time. What followed were three extremely strong races from him. Mickey showed good performance in free practice. His weekend was heavily affected by the complicated qualifying, with his final fast lap being deleted due to yellow flags. That meant he had no chance to start further up the grid. His starting position made all his races difficult, and he couldn’t show his or the bike’s full potential. We’ll see him come back stronger at Misano. Overall, it was a successful weekend for us with two wins and a second place – only 0.027 seconds behind. We’ve shown that we can continue to fight with Ducati and Nicolò Bulega for the World Championship, even though they still seem to have an advantage on the straights after the latest fuel flow regulation changes. So we leave Most with one eye smiling – and one eye crying, because the hat-trick just didn’t happen.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “The weekend started amazingly for me. We took pole and won the first two races. But in the second main race, I had some bad luck. It was not a technical problem but in the last few sectors on the final lap the bike felt strange. On the straight, I felt some cut and we lost P1. Anyway, it was a hard effort by everyone and we did a really good weekend. I’m just a bit unhappy that we did not do three wins but only two. Overall, it was not bad, we collected important points for the championship and everything else, we will see at the next race.”

Michael van der Mark, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “I started the weekend quite well. In FP1 and FP2, we had a strong pace and good lap times. My feeling with the bike was good, also in FP3 I felt confident. In Superpole, they unfortunately took my lap away because of the yellow flag. So I was starting from P15 which isn’t ideal on this track where it is hard to pass and the differences are so small. In the first race, I was just unlucky in turn 1, being taken out by someone elses crash. It was a big shame but it happens. In the Superpole race, I tried to get into the top nine so I had to pass but unfortunately could not make it. So I started from 15th again. I had a good start and strong first couple of corners but then I struggled a lot with the bike. It was so hard to ride and I couldn’t maintain a good pace. At the end, I lost a few positions again. It was very strange. We had a good start to the weekend but then difficult races. Now I’m looking forward to Misano to make some progress there.”

Facts and figures.

Superpole.

Air temperature: 14°, track temperature: 24°, humidity: 48%, conditions: dry.

Race 1.

Air temperature: 16°, track temperature: 27°, humidity: 43%, conditions: dry, laps: 22.

Fastest race lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu, lap 10, 1:31.109 (new record)

Superpole Race.

Air temperature: 12°, track temperature: 22°, humidity: 56%, conditions: dry, laps: 10.

Fastest race lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu, lap 2, 1:30.201 (new record)

Race 2.

Air temperature: 14°, track temperature: 22°, humidity: 51%, conditions: dry, laps: 22.

Fastest race lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu, lap 2, 1:30.379

Current riders’ classification (R05/12, after 15 of 36 races).

Current manufacturers’ classification (R05/12, after 15 of 36 races).