Locatelli Nets Fine Fourth in Race 2 for Pata Maxus Yamaha in Portimão

Rounding out a super strong weekend with two more podium challenging performances, Andrea Locatelli maximised his potential for Pata Maxus Yamaha at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, today.

“Loka” got the job done in style at the Round 2 of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship and securing a further second-row start with a solid fifth-place in the Superpole Race this morning was the ticket to another excellent start in Race 2.

From fourth place at the red-flag restart, the 28-year-old Italian rocketed to the front to run second in the opening laps – and did his best to maintain the podium pace across the shortened 11 Laps. An almost perfect ride was not quite enough to be able to fight the front trio, despite the Yamaha R1’s outstanding performance in Sectors 2 and 3 of the tortuous Portimão Circuit, but Locatelli was able to net a fine fourth-place finish at the flag.

Jason O’Halloran, standing in for the injured Jonathan Rea who travelled from Northern Ireland to provide much-valued support to O’Halloran and the team, progressively got faster over his first weekend with the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK. Taking a big step in Race 2, the Australian was chasing Tarran Mackenzie when he lost the front into Turn 1, pushed on by Portimão’s notoriously difficult-to-manage tail wind down the start-finish straight.

Following his strong start to the season, Locatelli sits fifth in the championship standings with the gap just four points from third place, heading to the Dutch Round where he has tasted podium success regularly in the past.

Andrea Locatelli – SPRC: P5 / Race 2: P4

“I think we did an amazing job during this weekend, we were always there and close to get two podiums more! We are working really well on the base set-up, in every situation and every condition in the races we were quite strong. Like I said yesterday, we have many possibilities in this season and this weekend to finish always in the top five is positive but I don’t want to stop believing that we can get more. Before the red flag, I was feeling better – I don’t know what happened after the restart but I had a vibration on the rear, it’s difficult to say but if I didn’t lose the time with Mikey and if we could have stayed closer to Bautista and not stopped the race then maybe we could have been fighting again for the podium. In any case, we need to be proud that we took another step, in myself and in the work that we do with the guys, so looking forward, cross the fingers and give our all to see what we can get in the next round. I will try in Assen to be fast again from Friday to find a good feeling with my R1 and try again for the podium.”

Jason O’Halloran – SPRC: P20 / Race 2: DNF

“Superpole Race and Race 2 done today, made another good step forward with my lap times consistently – about a second a lap faster than yesterday, so that was good. Thanks again to the team for continually working to make me more comfortable. All the time, I’m trying to adjust and adapt to the way that I’m riding the bike to try and get faster and get closer to the front guys. Superpole Race this morning was quite good – lap times we consistent from start to end – and then Race 2 this afternoon was another step again. The track temperature was hotter but I managed to be a bit faster and it was the first time this weekend that I had some guys around me on track to compete with which was quite nice. Obviously sorry to the team for the crash! There was a tail wind down the start-finish straight and I had a little bit too much speed into Turn 1 and folded the front. Not the way we wanted to end after a positive couple of races today – but congratulations to Loka, he had a really strong weekend and congratulations to the team as well.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Maxus Yamaha:

“Almost perfect performances from Loka today – and maximising the potential. Qualifying is critical in WorldSBK, Loka got that job done on Saturday followed by a superb podium, and backed that up with fifth and fourth in the two races today. These results show that we’ve made some significant steps forward, so a big well done to Loka and to everyone involved in the garage for a really solid weekend. I’d like to say thanks to Jason for standing in, it was a huge task to jump on the bike with no testing and run anywhere near the level of the permanent riders but he improved step by step over the weekend. Race 2 were his most competitive laps chasing Tarran Mackenzie as he has done many times with battles in British Superbikes, until Jason unfortunately folded the front at Turn 1. We’re now looking forward to Assen, a track where Loka has experienced success with us in the past and we’ll be updating the position regarding Jonathan’s participation in the near future.”