Pata Maxus Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea got to work during Friday Free Practice as Round 4 of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship got underway at Cremona Circuit in Italy today.
For Yamaha’s latest race winner and Italian home race hopeful, it was a case of start as you mean to go on. Locatelli has made a name for himself as a hard worker who keeps his head down during the two 45-minute sessions with a focus on long-run pace in preparation for the main points-paying races, rather than pushing for outright single-lap times. He did however push on in the closing stages to take Free Practice 2’s fourth-fastest spot during the hottest part of the day, while other riders had found outright pace in the cooler FP1 session.
Returning to competition for the first time since the Official Test in Phillip Island, teammate Rea and his #65 Pata Maxus Yamaha crew worked to reacquaint the six-time WorldSBK Champion with his Yamaha R1 and ongoing developments made since the injury to his left foot. A big positive is that Rea’s pain levels on the bike are manageable, even if nearly three months away have inevitably left him struggling for “bike fitness” as he looks to make a step tomorrow to improve.
Saturday’s action begins with Free Practice 3 at 9:00 CEST, Superpole qualifying at 11:00 and lights out for Race 1 at 14:00.
FULL FREE PRACTICE RESULTS
Andrea Locatelli: P7 – 1’29.704
“In the end, it was a good day for me and for sure, we need to improve a bit more – especially on the rhythm to be more at the front during the race. We are still losing a lot in Sector 3, this is the main problem and we are looking to understand what we need to do for tomorrow to improve this area because in the other parts of the track we are very competitive. Today the track was quite difficult and the temperature was high, but in general I am happy: the feeling is good, so looking forward for tomorrow where we will try to make another step. It would be nice to be fighting for the podium because we are in Italy! A lot of fans are coming to watch and we will do our best!”
Jonathan Rea: P21 – 1’30.547
“It’s been a difficult day but firstly, my foot feels fine riding – I had a couple of areas where my foot was in the wrong position and when I ride with my big toe on the foot peg it feels quite painful but generally it’s fine. Of course, it’s been a long time off the bike and physically, I didn’t feel amazing. However, I expected that to an extent and need some race fitness back. The R1 is quite different to when I last rode it and we worked through FP1 and FP2 with the same tyre set ups to find the rhythm and still I didn’t feel fully comfortable. We made some changes but nothing has really ticked the box yet to let me stop the bike in the way I really want to, so that’s the focus for tonight to give me more confidence to reach the apex. We’ll try to make a step tomorrow but – even if it’s really tough – it’s great to be back with the team and re-starting the journey to being fully competitive.”
