Niccolo Canepa: Andrea Locatelli Dutch WorldSBK win “special” for Yamaha

Having entered his new role as Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager over the winter, Andrea Locatelli’s victory in Race 2 at the Dutch WorldSBK was a milestone of sorts for Niccolo Canepa.

Not only was Locatelli’s win Yamaha’s first since Canepa took over from Andrea Dosoli as the Road Racing Sporting Manager, but it was also its first win since the 2023 Superpole Race at Magny-Cours; and Italian also became the first rider other than Toprak Razgatlioglu to win on a Yamaha in WorldSBK since Michael van der Mark won the Superpole Race at Jerez in 2020.

Ending a wait of a-year-and-a-half is surely important to Yamaha, but Canepa was no less pleased for Locatelli himself.

“It’s special because I’ve known him [Locatelli] for a long time, we’ve been working together in different roles,” Canepa told WorldSBK.com.

“So it’s special to see him in first place because he really deserves it; he had some bad luck in the past when he had the opportunity to win – this time he finally did it and we really hope it’s the first of many.”

Canepa, who entered his new role over the winter after spending several years as a factory Yamaha rider in the Endurance World Championship and as the WorldSBK test rider the Iwata factory, admitted that Yamaha’s season hadn’t begun in the best way in Australia, but said that since Portimao – where a new chassis was introduced under Superconcessions rules – the trend has been more positive.

“We didn’t start in the best way in Australia, but then from Portimao we were able to be fighting for the podium again – we saw the Yamahas being more competitive – and here again even better,” said Canepa.

“So, Cremona is a very important race for us, we know that we have our headquarters which is not far from there, also our sponsors mainly are from there, so it’s a very important race weekend.

“Also, it’s in Italy, Locatelli is Italian, so I really hope we can keep progressing and doing good results.”

About the upcoming race in Cremona, Canepa added: “Loka, when he is in this shape, doesn’t surprise me anymore. So, the bike is working, the team is working in a fantastic way, Loka is extremely strong, so I believe that we can fight there as well.”

Gardner’s podium “really special”

Locatelli was not the only rider on the podium in Race 2, as Remy Gardner took his first rostrum finish of the season in Race 2.

It was Gardner’s second podium finish in World Superbike, the other coming in Race 2 at Assen in the 2024 edition of the WorldSBK Dutch Round.

“It’s really special because he was on the podium here last year and he has been struggling this weekend a bit,” said Canepa.

“Finally, the team helped him and found a good setting and he was able to be back on the podium, he did a very strong race again.

“He had a bit of bad luck last year, so we hope he can again be on the podium more times this year for him , for his team, and for Yamaha as well.”