Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha): “Bulega wouldn’t be so successful on the R1”

Andrea Locatelli has been with Yamaha since 2020. The Italian won the Supersport World Championship in his first year with the Evan Bros team and subsequently moved up to the factory Superbike team. With 22 podium finishes (including one win) since 2021, Loka is the most successful Yamaha rider in the top category of the production-based World Championship after Toprak Razgatlioglu.

“When Razgatlioglu clinched the title for Yamaha in 2021, he truly deserved it,” Locatelli emphasised to Motosprint. “I think I contributed to the team’s success and helped him in certain situations, but he made the difference.”

In 2026, however, Yamaha is lagging behind with the ageing R1, and as eleventh in the World Championship, Locatelli is the best Yamaha rider. The season is dominated by Ducati, particularly with Nicolò Bulega on the V4R.

“Bulega is comparable to Toprak, who is showing some interesting things on the M1 in MotoGP and, for me personally, is the strongest team-mate I’ve ever had,” emphasised the 2020 Supersport World Champion. “Nicolò was battling Razgatlioglu for the world championship right up until Jerez in 2025. We all know how that turned out. We’re talking about two extremely strong riders who would stand out even without the right bike. Success, however, is a completely different matter.”

Locatelli is thus suggesting that Bulega currently has the best bike available in the Ducati, meaning the 26-year-old is highly likely to move up to MotoGP as world champion.

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“Perhaps the opportunity wouldn’t have presented itself otherwise. I don’t think he’d be competing at the front or winning as he is now with the Ducati if he were riding the R1. Then he wouldn’t be as attractive a prospect for the premier class. That’s my opinion,” Loka explained. “What did Iker Lecuona achieve at Honda? Now he’s winning on a Ducati. And Xavi Vierge? The fact is that in today’s competitions, the technical package plays a major role. Every rider should make the most of their opportunities and assess their own abilities realistically.”