Locatelli Fights Back to Contention in Aragon WorldSBK Race 1
Andrea Locatelli, after jumping into third place from the start but then suffering a near-crash on Lap 3 of today’s FIM Superbike World Championship race at MotorLand Aragon in Spain, fought valiantly to a top ten finish. Teammate Jonathan Rea dropped back from the lead group at the end of the race with front tyre wear issues, as both the Pata Prometeon Yamaha riders look to improve their results on Sunday.
Superpole qualifying this morning set the tone for Saturday’s Race 1 as seven riders set lap times within a tenth of a second of one another – Locatelli’s seventh-position time only one-tenth from a front row start. But a good start and clever race craft can make a world of difference at the Teruel track as soon as the lights go out.
Locatelli achieved just that – twice in fact – as the race was red-flagged at the end of Lap 1. During both starts, the team’s Italian rider made decisive moves in the first sector to overtake into the podium positions. Unfortunately, running wide at Turn 8 on Lap 3 and a lucky save at Turn 13 after picking up debris from the dirty line dropped Locatelli all the way down the order to P16. While he recovered to tenth position with strong passes and competitive lap times, the #55 was not close enough to take part in the close group battle at the front.
In Rea’s first race back from injury, he quickly pushed forward to the top ten from P13 on the grid, joining the large group of riders all with a chance at the podium. As the race developed, Rea started to struggle from a drop in front grip and lost out as Scott Redding pushed through from behind in the closing stages.
Clear goals are already set for tomorrow, which begins at 9:00 CEST for a short Warm Up session ahead of the 10-lap Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00.
SUPERPOLE RESULTS
RACE 1 RESULTS
Andrea Locatelli – SP: P7 / Race 1 P10
“I can take some positives from today but in the end the result is P10. Unfortunately, I made a mistake after I started very well, but this can happen when you are taking risks to keep the pace. We know what we are missing and we were a bit “unlucky” in the first part of the race because I went wide on Turn 8 where the track is a bit dirty. When I made the change of direction in Turn 13, I almost crashed and lost three seconds. With three seconds less on our race time, we would have been fighting for the top five. But, in any case, we need to keep what is positive for us: we made a good lap during the Superpole, and while we are a bit far from the front, if we can improve a little bit we will be closer. We have two more possibilities for tomorrow to try again. I want to believe until the end because maybe there can be a good opportunity, we just need to be ready. My bike was not bad, we did good work yesterday with everyone – the electronics and the set-up – so we will keep this confidence for tomorrow and try to make another step.”
Jonathan Rea – SP: P13 / Race 1: P14
“Overall disappointed with the result, but in the first 10 laps of the race I felt quite competitive. I was in the back of the long train, not losing too much overall time to be honest: there was areas where I felt stronger than the guys in front, but also areas where I struggled to pass. In the last third of the race, I really struggled with front tyre traction entering the corner and turning, so that compromised everything. I had a little bit of rear tyre drop, but most of the issues were coming from the front – I couldn’t stop the bike in the same way as the beginning of the race and I couldn’t maintain the lap time. Scott Redding came through at Turn 12 on Lap 14 and I lost track position to Loka, Scott and eventually Bassani as well from being off the track. That was unfortunate and I just lost the tow so it was a case of trying to bring the bike home and gather some information for tomorrow.”
