Published October 19, 2025 by Michael Le Pard , Editor‑in‑Chief
Andrea Locatelli led the charge for Pata Maxus Yamaha on the final day of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship, giving his absolute maximum until the very end with a fine fourth place in Race 2 at Jerez in Spain today.
Starting from ninth on the grid this morning, Locatelli made progress in the latter stages of the Superpole Race to finish P6 and secure a better start for the final race of the season. From the second row of the grid, he was able to climb to third position by Lap 3, holding off a charge from Xavi Vierge and Alvaro Bautista until Lap 9. Yamaha’s Italian star did not have an answer to Bautista’s pace in order to defend the final podium position, but enjoyed a spectacular wheel-to-wheel fight with his future 2026 teammate Vierge until the final corner.
It was an emotional farewell to the team and to WorldSBK for Jonathan Rea, who unfortunately closed his illustrious career by watching the final race of the season in the Pata Maxus Yamaha pit box, sitting alongside his wife Tatia and sons, Jake and Tyler, following a high-speed crash in the Superpole Race.
The six-time WorldSBK Champion was ruled unfit for Race 2, with an injury to his right knee, having crashed in Turn 3 at the start of the 10-Lap sprint this morning – regrettably taking GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team rider Remy Gardner down with him. It was not the way the team, Yamaha or Rea himself hoped to finish his incredible WorldSBK story, but he takes with him the deepest admiration and respect from every single member of the paddock.
Pata Maxus Yamaha will return to Circuito de Jerez this coming week for the first test of 2026, taking place on Tuesday, 21 October.
FULL SUPERPOLE RACE RESULTS
FULL RACE 2 RESULTS
Andrea Locatelli – SPRC: P6 / Race 2: P4
“Let me say first of all, thanks to all of my big family here in the Pata Maxus Yamaha team especially all my crew that are working so hard all season. We celebrated Race 2, the last race of the year with special colours and it was an honour to be part of celebrating the 70th birthday of Yamaha. I rode with this livery in Suzuka and was able to get a good result there, and we finished the season with another good result – unfortunately not on the podium but close to the fight. We need to be proud of what we did during this year, we had one victory and were always trying to be in the fight for the podium. We need to continue to believe, work hard – try to increase my level and the level of the bike. I want to say again, “thank you” for all the support from everyone in Yamaha to make a step in performance and to keep going in this way. I feel good on my R1 and now I have a lot of experience with this package, so we will try to give it our all on the next one! We have a long time and hard work to do during the winter to prepare for 2026, but it was an excellent season for me and I know we can do more! Let’s see for the next one and wish us luck!”
Jonathan Rea – SPRC: DNF / Race 2: DNS
“Completely not the way I wanted to end this chapter, both in WorldSBK and with Yamaha, but looking back it was honestly a really nice project and a great team of people to be with – I want to thank everybody for all of their hard work and a huge “good luck” for the future. Really grateful for this opportunity to ride for an amazing bunch of guys, but you can’t write the end of your own story and if anything, this weekend has cemented my decision to walk away from the sport. I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who gave everything right until the last lap. A huge thanks to all the World Superbike community, all the fans, my fans and all our sponsors for being here on the journey. I’ve had a great ride and I’ll see you on the other side.”
Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Maxus Yamaha:
“Jerez threw us a lot of unexpected challenges this weekend, of course the main ones being JR’s accident in Race 1 yesterday followed by the first lap Superpole collision and huge crash with Remy today. To finish his career watching Race 2 in the pit box isn’t the way we or Jonathan would have ever imagined Jerez would go – but it does not diminish in any sense at all the brilliance of his career, everything that he’s achieved and indeed how much we’ve benefited from Jonathan Rea being part of our Pata Maxus Yamaha and Crescent “family”. He’ll be having dinner tonight with Tatia, Jake and Tyler, having a glass of wine and being able to enjoy the first steps of his new life. Here’s to you, JR! On the other side of the garage, we finished the weekend in a very positive way with Andrea. He and the team have honestly struggled a bit with the feeling and confidence all weekend, but the guys worked late into the night yesterday to analyse and improve the package yesterday. Today, Loka was able to come out fighting and especially in Race 2, ride to his full potential – holding third for a good portion of the race and enjoying an incredible fight with his 2026 teammate Xavi Vierge for fourth position. Thank you to everybody involved in the Yamaha WorldSBK project for this year, fourth in the championship and close to the podium positions was a quite positive result and we’re determined to take a significant step forward next season.”
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