Surprise target set in Pata Yamaha garage despite Jonathan Rea absence

Jonathan Rea’s teammate has set a lofty goal to win the season-opening Australian World Superbikes round this weekend.

Andrea Locatelli will be the only Pata Yamaha rider at Phillip Island, after Rea injured his foot earlier this week during testing.

But Locatelli, who was seventh-fastest on Monday afternoon in testing in Australia, then third-fastest on Tuesday afternoon, has high expectations.

“It was important, these two days, to get back the feeling we missed from the winter tests,” he said.

“I am not 100% happy with the work that we’ve done. But we are happy with the race simulation.

“It looks like we can fight for the podium. My suggestion when I arrived was to just focus on winning.

“Why not? It’s a special track. I have more motivation than usual.

“I don’t want to fly, I want to be a realist, but I really feel that we can.

“I need to work a bit more but I have Friday to work on the bike a bit more. We have more data to compare.

“I’m confident for the weekend.

“I am not so happy because I’d like to be P1, especially at this track.

“It would be a dream. I have missed it many times. Last year we were close to winning.

“I want to be on the podium, I want to win the race. Dreaming, maybe, but I want to.

“This is my objective. Until Sunday night I will push on the throttle.

“I’m not happy because we are still missing a bit, but we can find something during the race weekend.”

WSBK rivals to beat?

Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega asserted himself as the man to beat, during testing earlier this week.

Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu will be in action despite a heavy crash on Monday.

Locatelli said about his rivals at the front: “It’s difficult to know or say. During the race weekend, the conditions will be different.

“There are many manufacturers doing a really good job.

“It will be difficult to win but, for us, it is important to start this season in the best possible way.

“This can be an opportunity. I want to believe.”

Is the 2025 Yamaha better?

Locatelli compared his 2025 Yamaha to last year’s version.

“It’s difficult to compare on this track because we had two different tyres,” he said.

“Also, the ground was new last year. I feel like we’re still missing grip [compared] to last year.

“If I compare last year to this year, with these difficult conditions, we have made a step forward.

“But it’s difficult to be 100% sure if it’s better or not.

“What we have brought is not wrong! I believe in what we have. We are still working and can get more.”

Locatelli will take a new swingarm into the season which he hopes will pay off.

“The swingarm was one of the big things to try in the winter but the weather didn’t help us,” he said.

“It’s working, at the moment. We are happy about this. Overall it worked on this track.

“With this, we will gain. With the older package, it [would have been] wrong.

“With this, we will improve. It is a good point for us.”