Comments: 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship Autodrom Most Czech Republic

While the final results did not always reflect Yamaha’s potential, there were encouraging indicators throughout the paddock heading into an important period of testing and development.

In WorldSBK, qualifying proved to be a decisive factor, with Superpole performance limiting the ability of riders to convert competitive race pace into stronger results.

There were positives to take from WorldSSP, where Can Öncü delivered another pair of podium finishes to strengthen his championship challenge, while championship leader Albert Arenas endured a difficult but ultimately unlucky weekend.

Here’s the verdict from Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager, Niccolò Canepa:

“Andrea Locatelli for example, especially in race two, had the same race pace some of the riders in the top six, but because he had to start so far back on the grid and lost a lot of time in the early laps he was not able to fulfil this potential in terms of result.

“We have made progress since last year, Locatelli’s race pace was seven seconds quicker overall, but with the poor Superpole and the competition in WorldSBK at the minute this was not enough to achieve the results we know we can. We are working in the right direction, but we need to keep making progress as well as looking at how we can improve our performance in Superpole so we do not compromise our weekend on a Saturday morning as I believe we can fight for the top five if we start on the first two rows.

“For Xavi Vierge, it was a similar story. He did not fully maximise his potential, but he did take steps and in race two he was just as quick as Loka, but again, his qualifying was not so strong. In the Superpole race, where he could have tried to move up the grid, he was pushed wide by another rider in turn one and this meant he was not able to do so.

“Stefano Manzi impressed me this weekend and what was great to see was that he started the weekend fast on Friday, which is a big improvement on what we have seen so far this year, where he’ll build over the weekend. He hit the ground running in Most and this meant he achieved his best Superpole result of the year and was the top Yamaha in this session. He had a top ten in race one, matching his best result, and overall it was a positive weekend for him as a rookie.

“Remy Gardner had a more difficult weekend, and we have to understand why because he is now physically in good shape. He had a strong weekend in Most last year, but for some reason it did not work for him this weekend so we need to understand why – he made some good steps in the Superpole race, but over the full race distance he did not have the pace. Fortunately we now head straight into the Misano test, so this will be important, especially for him as we need to help him find his feeling again.

“In Supersport, I thought Can Öncü rode well this weekends. Sometimes you can win, and sometimes you can’t and I do not believe he could have done much more this weekend, especially in race two. The important thing is he did not make any mistakes like earlier in the year and instead took two second places, which has helped him close the gap in the championship.

“For Albert Arenas it was a disappointing weekend, as he lost some of the ground he’d built up with an incredible weekend in Most but it was not his fault. He had never ridden at Most before, and it is a difficult circuit to learn but despite this he impressed to secure a strong qualifying position and in Race 1 he finished third. I believe he could have fought for the victory in Race 2, but was involved in an incident with another rider and crashed out of the race through no fault of his own. These things happen in racing, and this is why having a strong championship lead is important – he still leads by 19 points so all is not lost as we head into the next round, his home round in Aragon.

“For the GMT94 riders it was a weekend of what could have been, both Roberto Garcia and Lucas Mahias showed front-running pace but the results did not come. I believe Garcia had the pace to fight for the win in both races, but on Saturday he had to retire with a technical problem, so we are sorry about that, and on Sunday he got caught up in the dogfight and a small mistake saw him crash out. He is a young rider and has a lot to learn, but he is riding very well this year and he is very close to winning his first race. For Mahias, he also rode well, and was in the podium battle until the end in Race 2 until a small mistake cost him the result.

“It was another strong weekend for Aldi Mahendra, who is another young rider at just 19 years old. He qualified well, and learned from a mistake on Saturday to achieve his strongest dry result of the season on Sunday with fourth place. It was also nice to see Yuki Okamoto take his best result in WorldSSP, fighting with riders who have won races and world championships.

“In Sportbike, we saw some significant progress this weekend with Carter Thompson displaying race winning pace. Unfortunately, the result did not match the pace as he crashed out on the first lap of race one and had to do a double long lap on Sunday. Despite the penalty, he still managed to finish fifth, just three seconds off the lead so without the penalisation he could have been in that leading group. This is a great step for us in the class, and it also offers confidence to the other R7 riders that the bike can compete at the front. The bike was brand new for this year, so it has not been an easy start but step by step we are making improvements.

“Now we head straight to Misano with the WorldSBK riders for a test, which will be very important as we look to build on what we have learned over the last few rounds and evaluate the package so we can push for better results in the second half of the year.  We are pushing hard to improve and maximise the potential of our package, and we will also have the test team present in Misano with Alessandro Delbianco on the bike not just in Misano but also for the Michelin test in Aragon next month.”