Andrea Locatelli “quite happy” with Yamaha “feeling” after WorldSBK Portimao test day one

Andrea Locatelli has confessed to being “quite happy” with his feeling on the Pata Yamaha R1 after the first day of this weekend’s in-season World Superbike test at Portimao.

The Italian, who was Yamaha’s best performer at the first round of the season in Australia with 7-6-7 finishes, said that the positive feeling at the Portuguese venue was a continuation of that he had at Phillip Island.

“Honestly, I was quite happy with the feeling today, but I was immediately happy with the feeling at Phillip Island as well,” Locatelli told WorldSBK.com at the close of the opening day in Portimao.

“Overall, we kept the same feeling and I’m feeling confident with the braking point and I just want to keep riding like this and make another step.

“Immediately today I found a good feeling on the bike, I’m happy about that and I’m looking forward to continue to improve. At the moment I’m quite happy and I feel like we have a good base setup to come into the race weekend."

He added: “Today’s focus was to get the feeling. The conditions weren’t the best in the morning but, overall, when we went on-track in the afternoon I immediately found a feeling on the bike and this was one of the most important things.

“Later on, we tried to adjust and work on the electronics setup.

“Also, we have not necessarily something new, but something to consider, we confirmed what we tried and that is what is important. We’ll try to take another step tomorrow.”