Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli’s Race 1 performance at Autodrom Most delivered reasons for optimism, as Round 5 of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship continued in the Czech Republic today.
Qualifying on the fifth row was not a hinderance to Locatelli, who worked his way through the field methodically to run seventh by Lap 10. After a lap-by-lap battle with Alex Lowes, the team’s Italian rider crossed the line in eighth place to take a solid finish in the first full-length race in Most – feeling satisfied with the work done and opportunity to improve further tomorrow with 21 Laps of data to analyse.
Teammate Vierge tried to emulate Locatelli from his own position of 11th on the grid, running as high as ninth place at two-thirds race distance until degradation in the front tyre halted his progression with just three laps to go. The #97 Yamaha Official WorldSBK rider will study with his crew to understand how better to manage the grip across the full race distance, while using the strong points of the R1 to gain positions in the races on Sunday.
The WorldSBK schedule returns to its 2026 format tomorrow, with a short Warm Up at 9:15 CEST followed by lights out for the Superpole Race at 11:10 and Race 2 closing out the weekend from 15:30.
FULL SUPERPOLE RESULTS
FULL RACE ONE RESULTS
Andrea Locatelli – SP: P14 / Race 1: P8
“I think we managed quite well during the race, I am more or less happy with my performance because I was able to fight in every lap and tried to do my best always – but for sure, we need to work for the long race to try to improve the overall rhythm to fight more towards the top five. It was a difficult race but I am happy with the work that we did, I want to look at the positives and continue to work hard to try to improve the package and achieve solid results, and to enjoy the fight again.”
Xavi Vierge – SP: P11 / Race 1: P12
“It was a difficult race, especially the first couple of laps – but during the day, compared to yesterday, in FP3 we found something to improve quite a lot. Superpole was a solid one, I made a couple of mistakes that cost us a few tenths of a second but would not have changed much on the grid position. We know we had good pace to try to fight inside the top ten – my start was not the best and especially in the first laps, I was struggling a lot to try to overtake and go forward. Every time I made a pass, I needed to close the gap with the guys in front, so this means that I needed to ask a lot of the front tyre. In the last four laps, I finished it completely on the right side so I could not do any more. It was a pity, because we were fighting to try to make a good result even if it was not the race we wanted – so to end again like this is a little bit frustrating for me. But anyway, we have to understand and to learn how to lose less time when overtaking and how to use less of the tyre during the race.”
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