Close WorldSBK field offers Pata Maxus Yamaha opportunity to take a step after Day 1 at Most

Andrea Locatelli and Xavi Vierge both look to take another step after finding renewed confidence on the opening day at Autodrom Most for Round 5 of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship today, where the tightly-contested top 15 were separated by less than a second on the combined timesheets.

Despite grey skies and the threat of rain all day, only a few spots of rain fell at the start of Free Practice 2 but not enough to delay the work taking place this afternoon.

For both riders, the plan was to find a set-up to give them a good feeling and confidence going into the races for the Czech Round. Locatelli hopes to build on the steps he found on Friday and Saturday in Balaton, bringing a strong performance into Most, while Vierge aims to return to the good feeling he had from his race machine from Portimao and Assen in particular – both working on steps in the right direction today with their respective Pata Maxus Yamaha crews.

Race day tomorrow starts with Free Practice 3 at 9:40 CEST, followed by crucial Superpole qualifying at 11:15 and Race 1 at a one-off earlier time of 14:00.

Xavi Vierge: P11 – 1'31.543

“It was important to be back on my R1 and to feel “normal” and feel good! I’m happy for that, since the beginning I feel it’s “my” bike, the feeling has come back. It has not been an easy day but over the day we’ve been working in a good direction, we improved and the feeling has been getting better. Everything is super tight on the timesheets, so we will need to analyse everything very deeply to try to make the right step for tomorrow.”

Andrea Locatelli: P14 – 1'31.688

“It was a bit of a tricky day for me after the Balaton Race 2 crash, I was trying my best at home to recover as soon as possible with the gravel rash burn I have on the side of my leg. It’s still a bit painful but I found my rhythm during this afternoon and the good feeling on my R1. We are looking forward to improve for tomorrow and it is more or less clear where we need to work. Let’s say that after Balaton, it was not the best weekend but a good weekend for me in terms of finding a good feeling on the bike. We were able to come back again here with a good feeling today as well. We need to work a little bit more to find a couple of things to improve in all sectors, but I think we can do it for tomorrow. Then, let’s see and we will try to fight again like always!”