Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) had raised a lot of hopes by snatching 2nd position during FP1 Superbike Friday morning and confirms its good form by placing 4th in a first race of the 2023 season carried out on a very wet Phillip Island circuit…
In the meantime, the Italian pilot had returned to the 12th place in the combined ranking of the three free practice sessions, before qualifying 9th during the Super poles. But the driver from Bergamo made a good start to the race, already appearing 5th after the first lap. Since then, Andrea Locatelli secured his position, taking advantage of the fall ofalex lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) on the 15th of 22 laps to finish just off the podium.
Finishing 10 seconds behind his teammate Toprak Razgatlioğlu, the Yamaha official nevertheless scores big points by taking advantage of the good work done in the wet during pre-season testing, but hopes for dry races on Sunday where he intends to demonstrate even greater competitiveness...
Tomorrow is the last day of action on the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit with a short Warmup session at 00:30 French time before two more chances for podiums, points and victories: The Superpole race at 03:00 and Race 2 of 22 laps at 06:00.
Andrea Locatelli : " I'm happy because we finished the race in the top 5. We finished fourth but it was a bit complicated this morning during qualifying. Unfortunately we were only 0,2-0,3s short of being on the front row because the times were really close, but in the end I was fast and ready to be competitive for a dry race. But then... we ran in the wet, and the feeling wasn't bad! It was the first time that we used new parts and new settings that we had tried during the wet tests and overall I am satisfied because everything was good and we got a very good result, without committing no mistake. Now we are looking forward to being ready and fast tomorrow. I think we can continue to do very well. »
Paul Denning, Team Director: “ The cliché about Phillip Island is that there are often four seasons in one day, and we weren't really expecting a wet race after riding in track temperatures of over 50 degrees yesterday afternoon ! It was the same for everyone, in that no one had a chance to tune the bikes for these conditions, but both sides of the garage did a good job and it looked like Toprak and Loka had fairly competitive sets. Toprak confirmed his considerable progress in the wet over the last season and a half, and Loka, after his incredible performances during the test and yesterday, had a great race and finished P4. Toprak's incredible pole position earlier today puts him in a good position for tomorrow's Superpole Race, and even if Loka starts P9, he'll have a chance too, if he makes the same kind of start as today today. »
WSBK Superbike Phillip Island Race 1: standings
Classification credit: WorldSBK.com
