Pata Maxus Yamaha in Tricky Assen Race 1

Locatelli Locks in Top Six for Pata Maxus Yamaha in Tricky Assen Race 1, as Vierge Looks to Convert Strong Qualifying on Sunday

Andrea Locatelli performed strongly to secure a sixth-place finish in Race 1 of the Dutch Round of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship at TT Circuit Assen today, as teammate Xavi Vierge’s hopes of turning a fine fifth-place qualifying to an equally strong result were put on hold until tomorrow after a challenging 21-Laps.

Another frenetic and tightly-contested Superpole session this morning saw Vierge start from the second row of the grid for the first WorldSBK race of the weekend this afternoon, just 0.025s from P4. With promising pace from Friday Free Practice, the team’s Spaniard was understandably disappointed when he dropped back at the start and struggled to recover track position, coming under pressure from the chasing group when light rain began to fall in the last third of the race.

Locatelli’s lap time in Superpole was just 0.122s from Vierge and, starting from the third row, the Italian came through to go with the front group on the opening lap. Running in sixth place through the middle of the race, he set a metronomic pace while holding off his teammate, until coming under pressure from Tarran Mackenzie, Yari Montella and Miguel Oliveira on Lap 15. After multiple position swaps, the #55 Pata Maxus Yamaha fought back to reclaim the position three laps from the chequered flag.

In the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship, Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) finished second in a dramatic Race 1 after an intense battle for the win with main rival Maria Herrera, while Chloe Jones came through to a fantastic fourth-place finish on her Monster Energy Crescent Yamaha R7 with renewed confidence.

Sunday’s WorldSBK schedule begins with Warm Up at 9:15 CEST, the Superpole Race at 11:10 and Race 2 at 15:30 – WorldWCR also has a short Warm Up at 8:55 before Race 2 at 12:00.

FULL SUPERPOLE RESULTS

FULL RACE ONE RESULTS

Andrea Locatelli – SP: P8 / Race 1: P6

“After a difficult day yesterday, today we planned very well our qualifying and did a good job. The feeling is coming back and let’s say, it feels a little bit easier to go faster, and it’s helping us to improve in general on my R1. I’m quite happy, it was a positive qualifying and then a quite positive race – but we are still working to keep improving and improving, because this result is not enough. Also, the gap from the front is quite big so we need to be realistic and look forward, continue to work hard and increase our level every time we go on track and try to improve. It was tricky with the rain and the conditions during the race, but we managed well and finished in the top six – not so bad, not “perfect”, but a positive step forward.”

Xavi Vierge – SP: P5 / Race 1: P10

“I can’t be happy with the race – we worked very well during all the weekend with strong pace and the first goal of the day was to make a good Superpole qualifying. We achieved P5 with a good lap and could take a good spot on the grid. Unfortunately, the start was not the best, I lost some positions and then I was battling during the first laps to try to go forward. But it was impossible and also meant that I destroyed my front tyre on the right side and started to struggle quite early in the race. In the last nine laps, the right-hand corners were difficult to manage – the rain arrived and the riders behind also arrived. I was in the mix of a group where without the performance of the front tyre it was difficult to defend my position. We need to learn from today, we had much better pace to fight for a good result. We have two more opportunities tomorrow and I am determined to do better.”