Sensational Second for Locatelli and Pata Maxus Yamaha in Assen Race 1

Andrea Locatelli stormed to a sensational second place finish for Pata Maxus Yamaha in Race 1 of the third round of the FIM Superbike World Championship at the iconic TT Circuit Assen.

Looking to carry the momentum from a strong second round in Portimão two weeks’ ago, Locatelli’s Saturday got off to a perfect start in the Dutch sunshine as he topped the final free practice session and looked to be in a strong position ahead of the 15-minute Superpole. A fastest lap of 1’32.959 saw him qualify a tenth from a front row start in sixth, but he’d later be promoted to fourth on the grid following post-session grid penalties for two rivals.

A lightning launch from the second row saw the #55 rider second at turn one, and a brave move into turn three saw him momentarily take the lead in the early stages of the opening lap – a demonstration of the Italian’s boosted confidence with the R1 WorldSBK.

Looking comfortable in second, Locatelli was unfazed when he was caught and passed by world champion Toprak Razgatlioğlu. Hanging on to his former team-mate’s tail, he remained composed before making his move to regain second place. Once past, ‘Loka’ pulled the pin to comfortably pull clear of the battle for third place, retaining this consistent pace to cross the line to take his 20th career WorldSBK podium in second position. On the back of the strong Portimão weekend, this second rostrum of the season sees Locatelli move into joint third in the championship standings.

Standing in for Jonathan Rea, Jason O’Halloran has been making steady progress as he continues to understand the R1 WorldSBK, crossing the line 16th in his fourth race with the team with 20 more valuable laps under his belt.

Attention for the team now turns to Sunday, with the Superpole Race set to get underway at 11:00 local time with lights out for Race 2 at 14:00.

Andrea Locatelli – SP: P6 / Race 1: P2

“We started with the bike in a good place in Free Practice and I was quite confident after Friday. We made a small change for the bike this morning and this turned out to be a good step forward. I was not too happy with Superpole as I think we could have been on the front row, but row two is okay. I got a good start, felt strong in the opening laps and when Toprak came past me, I saw he was struggling with the front and I was able to get back past. I feel really good on the bike and my confidence is high, so I think we can be there tomorrow too if we keep going the same direction.”

Jason O’Halloran – SP: P22 / Race 1: P16

“We made a few changes from Superpole, but it didn’t quite work for us as I lost front grip from quite early in the race and was struggling to turn the bike a bit, so I brought it home with 20 laps of data. We’ll look through everything tonight to see if there’s anywhere we can improve tomorrow to bring it together a little bit better. I felt like I had decent pace in practice, but it didn’t quite work for us in the race, so we’ll check everything and look to make some improvements for tomorrow.”