Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha): New crew chief couldn’t work a miracle

Ducati’s dominance in the 2026 Superbike World Championship has raised the bar for the other manufacturers. A top-five finish is a respectable result; a top-ten finish is at least a solid one. This is the benchmark against which factory riders must be judged. For Yamaha’s star rider Andrea Locatelli, the record is dismal: just one fifth-place finish, plus eleven further top-10 finishes from 27 races – yet the Italian finished fourth in the World Championship last season!

At the start of the season, Locatelli had to adapt to a new crew chief. In 2025, he had worked with Tom O’Kane, who was assigned to Xavi Vierge this year. Locatelli, in turn, had the Spaniard Giulio Nava by his side, who had previously spent many years working with Álvaro Bautista. Yamaha saw this as an opportunity to support the 29-year-old and assigned Emanuele Martinelli to the 2020 Supersport World Champion, starting from Magny-Cours.

“His results have fallen short of expectations – we cannot deny that. We needed a slight reorganisation to help him regain his confidence,” explained Road Racing Manager Niccolo Canepa. “A reshuffle within the team could have a positive effect. I’m confident this is the right move to support Loka and help the team.”

A hope that has not yet been realised at the ninth round of the season. Having qualified tenth in Superpole, the Italian finished 12th and 10th in the races and suffered a crash. “It wasn’t our best race, but we tried to make the best of it. I had a few problems with the front wheel, but we managed the situation as well as we could. The front end and corner entry were the key areas we needed to work on in both starts today. We’re not entirely satisfied with the result, but we’re looking ahead,” Loka said of the first race. “The second race was tough. I lost a lot of positions at Turn 3 after being rammed by a rider. As I tried to make up ground, I had contact with another rider, who unfortunately caused me to crash. It’s a shame, because as a result we couldn’t finish the race or collect the data we wanted.”

Canepa believes he has spotted some positive signs in Locatelli. “Although there was progress throughout the weekend, it was difficult to gauge just how much progress had actually been made, as he crashed in the second race following contact with Manzi. I think it could have been his strongest race of the weekend, as he was battling with Xavi in the top 10,” mused the former racing driver. “It will be important to continue making progress at the test in Cremona this week to see if we can regain some of the confidence that earned him fourth place in the championship last year.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Magny-Cours

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Nicolò Bulega

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Axel Bassani

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Boxengasse

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Garrett Gerloff

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Fans

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Xavier Vierge

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Sam Lowes

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Iker Lecuona

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Álvaro Bautista

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Start des Rennens

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Lorenzo Baldassarri

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Axel Bassani

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Sam Lowes

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Nicolò Bulega

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Iker Lecuona

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Yari Montella

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Nicolò Bulega gewinnt beide Läufe in Frankreich

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Bulega und Lecuona

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Podium Lauf 1 - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega, Sam Lowes

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Podium Lauf 2 - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega, Yari Montella

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Sieger Nicolò Bulega

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Magny-Cours

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