Positive Race Preparations for Locatelli and Pata Maxus Yamaha in Friday Free Practice at Balaton Park

With a clear focus on long-run pace, Andrea Locatelli enjoyed a positive Friday Free Practice on his Pata Maxus Yamaha R1 WorldSBK, as Round 4 of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship got underway at Balaton Park in Hungary today.

Locatelli matched his best lap time of the day on Lap 20 of 20 in Free Practice 2, demonstrating pin-point accurate race pace on very used tyres. The Italian #55 finished the day happy with the set-up of his R1 and progress made, focusing on the main points-paying races ahead and aiming to qualify strongly in Superpole.

Balaton Park proved to be a more challenging circuit for teammate Xavi Vierge, whose experience of the bike has so far been gained on faster, flowing-style track layouts. The stop-start nature of the newer Hungarian venue places higher demands on braking, with the team and Yamaha’s engineers continuing work to provide the #97 with more confidence to attack each chicane and change of direction ahead of tomorrow.

The first race day of the weekend at Balaton Park begins with one final Free Practice 3 at 9:40 (CEST), Superpole qualifying at 11:15 before lunch and WorldSBK Race 1 at 15:30.

Andrea Locatelli: P13 – 1'39.974

“I think the feeling with my R1 was very good today – one of the best “Fridays” so far this season, and I think the work we were doing, with the tyre choice and everything around the bike, was the best solution for this morning and for FP2 this afternoon. We matched all the points very well and I got a good feeling immediately from FP1. There are a couple of points we need to work on, especially on the exit of the corner, but if we can improve on this I am sure that we can be more in front. The rhythm this afternoon on the used tyre was good, I am happy with the set-up and we are just working on the small details to try to make a step tomorrow. It was a positive Friday and my confidence and feeling has come back, so keep pushing and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Xavi Vierge: P16 – 1'40.254

“It has been a difficult first day, already in the morning I was struggling a little bit to stop the bike but the good point is that it is clear where we need to focus to improve. We worked a lot over the day in FP1 and FP2, and we made a small step forward – but we need more. We will have a long evening here with the team to find a solution for tomorrow because at this track, it’s very, very important to be able to stop the bike well because there are a lot of chicanes and it’s easy to make a mistake. So, the first goal right now is to find good confidence on the bike under braking and I believe if we achieve that then all the rest will come together!”