Locatelli extends contract with Yamaha in WorldSBK
A day after Toprak Razgatlioglu announced he was leaving the factory Yamaha team in World Superbikes to race for BMW in 2024, his team mate Andrea Locatelli announced his intention to remain with Yamaha, signing a new two-year deal.
“My objective was to continue with Yamaha, so I’m very happy to have signed for another two years,” the 26-year-old Italian said.
“One of the best things about Yamaha is the people who believe in me, starting with Eric de Seynes, Paolo Pavesio and Andrea Dosoli, but also Riccardo Tisci and all the engineers and technicians who work so hard to give me the best bike possible. The same is true of the team. Since I arrived in WorldSBK I have enjoyed incredible support from Paul Denning and Andrew Pitt, and everyone involved in the project.”
Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Manager, Andrea Dosoli, was just as confident about the new deal: “It gives me great pleasure to announce that we will continue for two more years with Andrea Locatelli, in line with Yamaha’s vision of nurturing talent and forging a long-term relationship with our riders.
“We have seen Andrea mature as a rider, continually progressing to the point where he is now one of the strongest in the championship. He has shown himself to be capable of making informed technical decisions during testing, whilst his determination in the short races is matched by his intelligent management of the longer feature races. These are all good signs, and this is what convinced us that, together, we can make further steps and secure even better results in the future.”
After six seasons in the Grand Prix paddock across Moto2 and Moto3 classes, Locatelli moved to World Supersport in 2020 and dominated, taking twelve victories from 15 races to easily win the championship. That earned him a promotion to World Superbikes with the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK factory team in 2021.
Locatelli has found success in WorldSBK much harder to come by, though, with no race wins after almost two and a half seasons in the category. However, he remains positive.
“All together, we have achieved some good results but, more importantly, we have walked side-by-side on a path that has allowed me to feel more and more confident,” Locatelli added. “I think that with this extension, we’ve laid the groundwork for a bright future.”
As of the conclusion of the Misano round on 3-4 June, Locatelli had five podium finishes and was in third position in this year’s championship with seven rounds remaining.
