Andrea Locatelli “quite happy” with Yamaha WorldSBK performance, targets Assen podium
Andrea Locatelli believes he can finish on the podium at the Dutch WorldSBK after a strong practice in Assen.
Pata Yamaha WorldSBK rider Andrea Locatelli declared himself “quite happy” with his performance in Friday practice at the Dutch WorldSBK, and believes he can finish on the podium this weekend.
Assen is the circuit where Locatelli first finished on the podium in World Superbike back in his debut season, 2021, and he came to the Netherlands this weekend off the back of his first podium of the season at the Portuguese Round two weeks ago.
Also – theoretically at least – playing into his and Yamaha’s favour this weekend is the fuel flow reductions imposed on Ducati and BMW as a result of their respective performances in the opening two rounds.
Although it was Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega who looked strongest on Friday, Locatelli and Yamaha still showed strong potential from Friday morning in Assen.
“Basically, we started in a good point this morning with the bike,” Locatelli told WorldSBK.com after FP2 on Friday in Assen.
“I was quite confident and after a good FP1 we made a small change on the bike because we didn’t try using a soft [compound] tyre during [FP1] and today it was important for us to understand, especially for [Saturday] in the race if it’s possible to use the soft compound.
“It looks like [it’s possible], so we made an improvement today during FP2 and I’m quite happy with the bike.”
The improvements meant Locatelli was confident of being able to fight for the podium, although he stressed the importance of achieving it in Race 1.
“I feel like we can make another step forward, we will try to work on all the details tonight and I hope that [in Race 1] we can fight for the podium 100 per cent,” he said.
“For sure, we need to improve a bit but I’m quite confident to be there [on Saturday].
“We need to try immediately to do it because it’s Race 1 [...] which is always a bit more tricky for everyone.
“We have a good potential and we need to try [to finish on the podium in Race 1] because for sure then Sunday is coming a bit difficult.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
