Donington Park. “You are the king of Donington Park,” a fan shouted to Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) on Sunday afternoon – perfectly summing up the seventh round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). ‘El Turco’ secured pole position and another hat-trick aboard his BMW M 1000 RR for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team on the legendary British circuit. After winning race one on Saturday and the Superpole Race on Sunday morning – which also marked BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s 100th podium in WorldSBK – he went on to win the second main race as well, taking over the lead in the riders’ standings. After seven of twelve rounds, Razgatlioglu now holds a four-point lead over Nicolò Bulega (ITA / Ducati). His total of twelve wins at Donington Park also sets a new record. His teammate, Michael van der Mark (NED), suffered a series of setbacks in the UK through no fault of his own. He finished 13th on Saturday and retired from both races on Sunday. The season continues from 25th to 27th July at the brand-new Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary.
Reactions after the Donington Park round.
Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “It was an incredible weekend for us, putting us back in the lead of the world championship – right where we belong. I think a lot of people wrote us off after the season opener in Australia. I’m incredibly proud of the team, the engineers at home, the test team, all the mechanics, and everyone else who puts in tireless effort. No one gave up – everyone worked to bring us back to the front, to fight for victories again, and now to lead the championship. Toprak did an unbelievable job. He’s back in his flow, and you can feel his mental strength. Nothing can shake him. Everyone works with full focus from the first free practice to the final race. We are immensely proud of that. Unfortunately, Mickey had an extremely tough weekend here, and together we will do everything to bring him back to the front as well. Lastly, on behalf of all at BMW Motorrad, I’d like to thank the team: to take the triple win at the home round is just fantastic.”
Christian Gonschor, Technical Director BMW Motorrad Motorsport: “This weekend at Donington brought unusually warm conditions, which presented a challenge for the entire paddock so Friday was initially a process of adaptation for us. We worked very intensively during the practice sessions to understand the bike under these conditions and grip levels. That worked out perfectly – the BMW M 1000 RR was spot on. From FP3 onward, the bike was in an ideal operating window, and for the rest of the weekend we only needed to fine-tune it. Toprak’s outstanding Superpole lap and race performances confirmed this. Unfortunately, Mickey’s weekend was severely impacted by his unavoidable crash in FP3 – he went down on oil left on the track following another rider’s engine failure. This triggered a chain of unfortunate events, requiring a lot of repair and analysis work. One thing led to another. We apologise to him and are confident he’ll bounce back in Hungary. It’s a new circuit for everyone, which makes it exciting. One of the strengths of both our riders is their ability to quickly adapt to new tracks, so we’re really looking forward to racing at Balaton Park Circuit.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “I’m very happy because before I came here, my biggest target was the hat-trick. I love this track and I really like riding here. I’m enjoying it and now I have 12 wins here, so I broke the record. It’s of course also good to now be in the championship lead, but I’m not focused on that, I just focus from race to race and on winning them. The next races are at Balaton which is new for everyone. We will see there. I hope we will win there, too. The circuit is a bit difficult but also suits my style a bit. But we will see. We will work hard and then we are ready to fight for the win again.”
Michael van der Mark, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “This has been a very tough one. It seemed that the odds were against us this weekend. There was this crash on oil I couldn’t avoid in FP3, then we were struggling with different technical issues. Everyone worked really hard but the only reward we got was the points from race one. Now we will regroup and then head to Hungary; a new track for everyone and I am sure we can turn our fortunes there again. Toprak has shown the potential of the bike and I am happy for him and the team for the hat-trick. We all will work very hard now and my aim is to be back in the mix before we go into the summer break.”
