Locatelli Moves Forward to Positive P4 in Misano Race 1 for Pata Prometeon Yamaha

Italian Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli shone at his “home race,” taking a strong fourth place finish in front of a busy crowd at the Emilia-Romagna Round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship today.

While Misano’s high-speed layout and low-grip surface hasn’t been his happiest hunting ground in the past, Locatelli had one of the best rides of his season so far despite missing out on the podium. A productive Superpole meant he started from P6 and the second row of the grid, where he immediately made progress on the opening lap to run in fifth position. A hard pass on Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) and later, a battle with Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha) were highlights of Race 1 before Locatelli brought his #55 Pata Prometeon Yamaha R1 WorldSBK home with a fine fourth place.

By contrast, it was a day to forget for teammate Jonathan Rea after a disappointing Superpole qualifying session put him on the fifth row of the grid for Race 1, further compounded by a high-speed crash on the opening lap at Turn 13 that took the Northern Irishman out of the contention. Rea was lucky to escape with bruising to his left hand and right knee, and hopes to come back to find confidence again tomorrow.

The final day in Misano starts at 9:00 CEST with a short Warm-Up followed by the Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00.

Andrea Locatelli – SP: P6 / Race 1 P4

“It was one of the best races we’ve had in Misano. We did well during the test, so I was sure that we could do a good race here and I believed in myself and the R1. From the beginning of the year we have made a lot of progress and we always try to make a step forward – we’ve done well here and it’s only Race 1! I believe that tomorrow we can do a little bit better, I would like to finish on the podium. It’s not so far, but it will not be easy because we know our competitors are strong. Let’s see, but the opportunity is there so we will try. We have a lot of support here from Yamaha, and I never feel any extra pressure here for my “home race” probably because Yamaha has become like my family. What we feel here in Misano this weekend is something positive, in the past Misano was probably not the best for my riding style but step-by-step and year-by-year I can probably adapt better with more experience, so what we did today was a step forward.”

Jonathan Rea – SP: P15 / Race 1: DNF

“Really frustrated, because my race ended before it had begun. It was a knock-on effect from a bad qualifying, being in the middle of a mess in the first corners and then when things started stringing out in the fast section, I got quite close to Aegerter in the fast Turn 12 and just opened up the line a little bit to create some space but ran over the shoulder of the corner and to be honest from that moment, it was just a blur really – it was that fast. I went down and it felt like I was tumbling forever, but I’m so thankful to have good protection from Alpinestars and Arai – they kept me safe today, apart from a few bumps and bruises, but I should be good for tomorrow. The target is to try to get some good feeling tomorrow, make a good start and start finding some confidence.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Prometeon Yamaha:

“This afternoon’s Race 1 at Misano was absolutely two different stories on each side of the garage. For Loka, a strong qualifying was followed up by one of his best race performances of the year, despite not being on the podium. Misano has always been a struggle for him to achieve what he’s capable of, but this year he’s turned that around to come forward as well as he did, finish P4 and effectively be “best of the rest” given the level of the top three. Well done and a big congrats to Andrea, to Tom and to all of his crew for continuing to build the confidence and performance. Qualifying was a disaster for Jonathan – in WorldSBK 2024, a tenth of a second makes five places and half a second, ten places. We weren’t a million miles away but the position was disappointing. He felt better on a revised setting on the sighting laps, but unfortunately a huge crash on Lap 1 at Turn 13 means that we don’t have any more information and we didn’t get a chance to build the flow and confidence going into tomorrow – but the most critical point is that Jonathan is more or less ok. We’ll keep our heads, keep positive and do everything we can to help JR come back to his true level and climb out of this difficult moment as a team.”