Vierge 0.002s From Fastest Lap on Third Day at Portimao Test for Pata Maxus Yamaha

After challenging conditions earlier this week, Pata Maxus Yamaha and its Official WorldSBK riders Xavi Vierge and Andrea Locatelli remained in Portimão to take advantage of clear weather at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve today.

Leading the charge and completing 74 laps on the final day of the test was 28-year-old Vierge, whose running plan included refining the base set-up of the #97 Yamaha R1 WorldSBK to further match his riding style in advance of the second round of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship at the same venue later this month.

The Spaniard clocked 32 laps on Monday in intermittent conditions, and was also caught up in a crash on Monday when Nicolò Bulega high-sided at the exit of Turn 13 and the Pata Maxus Yamaha rider was unable to avoid his bike.

Tuesday was more or less a “washout” as the damp track surface refused to dry. Vierge completing just a couple of installation laps at the end of the day while teammate Locatelli remained in the pit box.

Locatelli did not complete a qualifying simulation during the test, logging 34 laps during Monday’s restricted running and 80 laps on Friday – interrupted briefly by a high-speed crash around lunch time at Portimão’s notorious Turn 16. The #55 rider worked with his crew to assess a number of improvements to his R1 WorldSBK package.

Round 2 of the WorldSBK Championship will take place at Portimão on 27-29 March.

Xavi Vierge – 1:40.475:

“I’m super happy with the test we had in Portimão, I would like to thank the team and Yamaha for allowing us to stay to be able to complete the test today because it was very necessary for us to prepare for the next race. I’m very happy, we did a lot of work this morning to assess different set-ups to reconfirm our base. It’s something we needed to do and during the lunch break the team did a very good job to decide what is the best package for us. Then we “went for it” in the afternoon to find the fine tuning. I feel comfortable on the R1 and our race pace is strong – and also, we tried the softer tyre and we were able to extract quite a lot of potential from it which is not always easy here in Portimão. Overall, I’m happy with this day and it was necessary for us to reset after the first round. Now it’s time to go home and rest a bit, soon we will be back racing!”

Andrea Locatelli – 1:41.746:

“I found a good rhythm and a good feeling with my R1 this morning, then unfortunately I crashed in the high-speed entry of the last corner. For sure, we lost a bit of confidence and then we found some other problems that needed to be looked at. In general, it was positive until we stopped for lunch and then in the afternoon, we tried many different things to understand how to improve our set-up. We have found a little bit the way, so now we have some time to come back home again to check the data and analyse everything and then decide where to start the race weekend as fast as possible.”

Niccolò Canepa – Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Sporting Manager:

“It’s been a very productive day in Portimão, I would like to say thank you to the crew who have stayed a few days longer than expected in Portugal. It was an effort that paid off as it was necessary for us to do a proper full test day with good temperature, sunshine and good track conditions. We are extremely happy with the work done by Xavi’s side, because he was able to understand and find his rhythm very well – and especially this afternoon, I believe he was the best rider on track in his race pace. He finished P2, just two-thousands of a second behind Sam Lowes, so this is encouraging for the race weekend. He felt comfortable and said it felt easy to find the lap time and be consistent, which is for sure what we were looking for. On Loka’s side, he started well this morning and had a good feeling, then unfortunately he had a crash that hindered a little bit the improvement and the plan for the afternoon. We were going in the right direction, but after that it took time to recover the rhythm – but even though the lap time didn’t come, we understood something very important so now we have time to go back home and analyse the data deeply and we will be ready for Round 2 in Portimão. We know that the target is to do much better than what we did in Australia, and I believe this test has been really helpful to improve the overall package of the R1 and the feeling of the riders.”