Positive Jerez Winter Test Sets Up 2025 Development for Pata Prometeon Yamaha

Pata Prometeon Yamaha and its riders Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli took to the track for the final time in 2024, finishing off two days of WorldSBK winter testing at Circuito de Jerez in warm, sunny conditions today.

Stepping into his new role, Crew Chief Oriol “Uri” Pallares led the #65 side for the first time with the team welcoming highly-experienced technician Gregory Rebeyrat. Rea finished the test with a fastest lap time of 1'38.452, less than one tenth from the top of the timing sheet.

While a crash at Turn 7 before lunch slightly restricted running for Locatelli today, the #55 side was able to make positive progress on Day 1 with 77 laps and continue to working through the test programme later this afternoon.

Across a combined total of 241 laps, the focus was on a combination of chassis and electronics strategy improvements while simultaneously fine-tuning the individual R1 WorldSBK set-up for both Rea and Locatelli.

The next development test for Yamaha’s engineers and Pata Prometeon Yamaha will take place on 22-23 January, returning to Jerez once again before two further days at Portimao before the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship opening round at Phillip Island, Australia.

Jonathan Rea – 1'38.452

“I’m satisfied with the work that we’ve done over these two days! In the end, we have a lot of items to try this winter but during this test in particular it was important to work on my feeling with the R1 and regain some confidence in areas that I struggled with a bit this year. We focused on the front end of the bike, being able to stop and be more aggressive flicking the bike to the apex. Working with Uri as my Crew Chief for the first time was nice, the vibe in the team is good and he has slotted right in – so we were able to get to work quickly. We tried some different electronic items and fine-tuned our base set-up – the start point when we arrived was good so we were able to move through the programme efficiently. I’m happy because we were able to be fast on the Q tyre, race tyres and deliver consistency in the lap times, building my feeling again. Clocking off now for the winter, we’ll be back in January to get really into the meat of the test plan. I’d like to wish everyone a happy holiday period and say a massive thanks to the whole team and Yamaha – plus a warm welcome to my new mechanic Gregory Rebeyrat and “chapeau” to Uri for a great first 2025 test.”

Andrea Locatelli – 1'39.508

“The rhythm with the race tyre was good – it was a shame to have such a big crash this morning on the second day and miss some of the test programme. But, now we are looking forward and waiting for January so I can ride on my R1 again. We have time to analyse the data from both days and make another upgrade to prepare the bike for four more days of testing in January – which will be important to finalise everything ready for the season. We did 72 laps yesterday and in general for the first day I was happy, immediately with a good pace even though we were not in search of a fast lap time. It is important after a long time I have been with Yamaha that we push to the maximum, no matter what the condition. If we can be fast immediately it can be a big advantage for us both in testing and during the race weekends, in this area I have improved a lot. It is a step-by-step process overall in testing, we stay positive and I always believe that we can make a difference in all the areas where we work. Thank you to the team and Yamaha, and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!”

Riccardo Tisci – Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Technical Manager:

“These two days of testing at Jerez were very interesting for the Yamaha WorldSBK project – we found some positives and a few areas where we have to continue to work on refining the details, but it was very useful because we have a clear direction for the next steps in development. We followed our test plan working on mainly chassis and electronics improvements, also towards making steps forward ahead of our next tests in January, in parallel with ongoing R1 WorldSBK set-up refinements and general rider preparation for the first race. Now, we have a month and a half to thoroughly check all the data collected during this test to confirm the next evolution of our bike specification ready for the 2025 season.”