In Saturday’s Race 1, interrupted by a red flag, both Pata Maxus Yamaha riders fought hard for points at the FIM Superbike World Championship at the Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours.
After Friday’s heat, milder conditions greeted the paddock as the day began with Superpole at the Circuit de Nevers, Magny-Cours. Xavi Vierge looked to carry over the good feeling and pace from yesterday and qualified P8, Team-mate Andrea Locatelli found an improved feeling compared to the previous day to qualify P10.
In the afternoon, a hectic Race 1 was interrupted by a red flag after a huge accident for Tommy Bridewell on the approach to Turn 15, and was restarted over 12 laps. The team’s #97, who hadn’t felt at his best in the opening part of the race, recovered well in the second to cross the line in P10. Locatelli, meanwhile, couldn’t quite find the pace to beat his team-mate but fought back to finish P12 – and, importantly, gathered valuable information to build on. He and the team will use the evening to fully prepare for tomorrow’s two races.
The final day of the weekend gets under way with Warm Up at 9:20 CEST, followed by the Superpole Race at 11:10 and Race 2 at 14:00 to close things out.
FULL SUPERPOLE RESULTS
FULL RACE ONE RESULTS
Xavi Vierge – SP: P8 / Race 1: P10
I think we did some solid work on Saturday. Qualifying was strong, and starting inside the first three rows always helps. We know we’re still missing a little bit of pace, and with the tyre degradation, that’s what we saw in the races today. We made a small change for Race 1 and I came across an issue I hadn’t had all weekend – but the positive is that the bike worked really well after the red flag. We changed the setup again and I felt a bit better in Race 2, although we know there’s still work to do to be right in the fight. For tomorrow, we just need a couple of small adjustments to battle with the group ahead, who will be even stronger. A big thank you to the team for all their hard work – we’ll come back fighting again tomorrow.
Andrea Locatelli – SP: P10 / Race 1: P12
It wasn’t our best race, but we tried to make the most of it. At the first start I was in a good position and gave everything to fight, which is a positive to take. It wasn’t easy – I was struggling a little with the front – but we managed the situation as well as we could. After the red flag my restart wasn’t ideal, but I was able to recover a couple of positions straight away. The front end and the turning were the main area to work on today, in both starts. We’re not fully satisfied with the result, but we look forward, keep working hard and aim to do better tomorrow. We still have two more races, and we know we can take a big step to show our real potential.
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