Returning to WorldSBK competition after an almost eight-week break, Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea took to the Misano World Circuit for the opening day of the Emilia-Romagna Round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship at Misano World Circuit in Italy.
The Pata Prometeon Yamaha squad filled in the break with two tests, most recently at Misano a fortnight ago in order to finalise preparations for Round 4 of the championship, but hotter conditions and Misano’s typical variable grip surface dealt a different set of cards today.
With new development tyre options from Pirelli to assess, both riders and their crews had their hands full across the two 45-minute Free Practice sessions to adapt to the change in track conditions and gather crucial data to fine-tune the set-up of both Yamaha R1 WorldSBKs ready for Race 1.
Locatelli and Rea finished the day in P13 and P14 respectively, with the #55 rider missing a portion of Free Practice 2 due to a small crash at Turn 4. After recovering the bike back to the pit box for repairs, Locatelli was able to return to the circuit to set his best lap of the day.
As the hot, sunny weather is set to continue, the team will leave no stone unturned in their search to find set-up improvements for tomorrow’s final Free Practice 3 at 9:00 CEST (BST+1) just before Superpole qualifying at 11:00 and Race 1 at 14:00.
Andrea Locatelli: P13 – 1'34.438
“It was a bit of a troubling day because honestly we expected a much better feeling, especially since we did very well during the test. For sure, the condition of the track is changing quite a lot, so we need to understand what we can do for tomorrow and what we can improve. We are not so far, you see the gap is quite close, but we have something to understand. On the lap-time rhythm we are good, so I think for the race we can do well but it’s important for me to take a good feeling. When I want to push more on the bike we are struggling a bit on the braking point, so if we can make a step in this area, we can improve a lot – then tomorrow, we can enjoy!”
Jonathan Rea: P14 – 1'34.462
“It’s been a difficult day, in part because we arrived here with some different specification tyres from Pirelli so we had to factor that into our planning today. I felt okay on the bike, just the conditions are different to the test so we are struggling for grip and the bike is behaving a little bit differently. Just working to understand step-by-step with the crew, and also with Fabien and Nico on track watching, to try and help me with what I can do to improve. I feel like I’m riding close to the limit but it’s clearly not, we still have room for some margin because Remy was really fast today. It’s a mixed bag because I’m okay in Sector 1 and 2 but we need to improve in the second part of the lap – something to focus on for tomorrow.”
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