Andrea Locatelli disappointed with Yamaha: "This is not enough"

A very complicated start to the season for Yamaha and Andrea Locatelli in Superbike. In the three races held on the always treacherous Phillip Island circuit, made even more treacherous by the rain that marked the two Sunday races, the rider from Bergamo managed to score points only in Race-2 by finishing fifth. On Saturday, in Race-1, he had crossed the finish line in thirteenth place after starting fifteenth on the grid. No points for him even after the Superpole Race, which is why the balance of the weekend is negative overall.

Marco Enzo Venturini

“This has definitely turned out to be one of the most difficult races for us – Locatelli had said after the disappointing Race-1 of the SBK in Australia -. I don&#8217t know why, but in Yamaha as a team we are honestly having difficulties. And the same goes for me individually. Basically, in some parts of the track it is difficult to get a good feeling and in the end the final set-up choice we made for the race probably wasn”t the best one for our bike here in Phillip Island”.

Yamaha appeared to be among the most struggling manufacturers at Phillip Island along with BMW. In a weekend dominated by Ducati, however, Axel Bassani’s Bimota held its own. “We have to learn and try to figure out which direction to go to find the feeling again, and maybe even decide to use the optional rear tire and then try again. Tomorrow we have two more races, we will try to learn something and push until the end of the weekend”, Locatelli added.

Different analysis after Sunday’s fifth place, but only to a certain extent. “It certainly wasn–t an easy weekend for us,” admitted Locatelli. “The positions we got, let me tell you, are not enough because we know we can do much more. We came here with the goal of trying to be faster and faster, but for some reasons we were not able to be. We have to keep working hard, but I want to be positive: today the conditions were different and I tried to give my best. I gave 100 percent from the very beginning of the weekend, but we did not have enough confidence or speed”.

“Fortunately, today in the wet I was at least able to improve to fifth place. This is what we got from this weekend, for sure we lost a lot of points, but the championship is not over: it is only the first race and I want to remain optimistic. Now we have Portimão, where last year we got on the podium, and then we won in Assen, so we have to keep looking ahead, push hard and get back to the level we deserve”, Locatelli concluded.