Winner of the Supersport World Championship with Randy Krummenacher and vice-champion with Federico Caricasulo, Team Bardahl Evan Bros must replace the Swiss who left for MV Agusta in Supersport and the Italian promoted to Superbike by Yamaha within the GTR team, whose Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese leave.
The choice fell on Roberto Locatelli, recent 16th in the Malaysian Moto2 Grand Prix on a Kalex from the Italtrans Racing Team. Aged 23, born October 16, 1996 in Alzano, Locatelli has competed in 104 Grands Prix, including 50 in Moto3 and 54 in Moto2.
He has never won, but has been on the podium twice in Moto3 with the best results being two second positions in Germany and Australia in 2016, and the best qualification being second place, again in Germany in 2016. In Moto2 he has finished at best sixth (in the Netherlands) and qualified sixth at this year's French Grand Prix.
This season, he is 18th in the Championship before Valencia. He has finished in the top 10 twice this year, sixth at Assen and tenth at Austin. It's not extraordinary, but he is only two points behind Nicolò Bulega and fourteen points behind Sam Lowes.
The second driver has not yet been appointed. Contacts are currently underway and the agreement should materialize in the coming weeks.
The Bardahl Evan Bros team during Randy Krummenacher's coronation in Qatar
Video: Andrea Locatelli Italian Moto3 Champion in 2013 (Italian Federation video):
Video: Randy Krummenacher on board camera on the Ring of the Rhine Circuit:
Photos © Bardahl and Evan Bros / Yamaha Video
