Andrea Locatelli ‘not fully there when trying to push, but confidence is high’

Andrea Locatelli managed to match Jonathan Rea’s lap time in the closing stages of the Catalunya WorldSBK test, however, the Italian struggled to match Rea’s consistency.

After a brilliant opening round where he could have won Race 2, Locatelli cemented himself as one of the series’ top riders. 

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But feeling less than 100% fit fur to his crash on the final lap of Race 2 in Phillip Island, Locatelli admitted he wasn’t able to get the best from his R1.

Speaking after day-two, Locatelli added: “It was an interesting day – It’s always a bit strange riding here compared to some other circuits, we know that on this track we can have some wheel spin compared to Phillip Island.

“In Australia the grip from the new tarmac was incredible, so here is another condition and it is important to learn and know what we can improve in the set-up to manage this.

“But in the end, I think we did a good job – I have good confidence and a good feeling on my R1. I am not 100% physically, because when I crashed in Phillip Island, I had some pain in my knee – the confidence on the bike is quite high like always but my feeling when I am trying to push is not quite fully there.

“We did a lot of laps, understood a lot of things but we will see during the race because that can be another story.”

With Kawasaki competitive in Phillip Island thanks to Alex Lowes, Ducati and BMW being in the mix, and Rea seemingly making a step forward with his R1, challengers for race wins could be even higher at round two this weekend.

But Locatelli wants to focus on what he can control: “We are always focused only on ourselves during testing to try to do the best job – I was happy we did a lot of laps on used tyres yesterday.

“Unfortunately today during the long run we had a technical problem so we lost a little bit this opportunity.

“Now I have some days to recover at home and I hope to be fighting again for the podium next week.”

At GRT Yamaha, Remy Gardner was the standout rider particularly on day-one as he challenged Rea for top spot on multiple occasions.

After a test that also involved a crash on day-one, the Australian said: "It was a solid test overall, we did some good work in my opinion.

“We focused on long distance runs and I can say I'm satisfied with the job done, it was a productive test.

“Unfortunately, a small crash slowed the whole process on the first day; despite having a decent feeling with the hard soft front tyre, it probably got cold and I ended up crashing at Turn 5.

“That didn't prevent us from improving and our pace is good, even though we know there's still margin to improve.

“Unfortunately, I wasn't able to put together all my best sectors during my fast lap, but we can be confident for the race weekend."