Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) opened up his 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign with a trio of commendable performances Down Under. The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit has been one of Locatelli’s best in WorldSBK, and that continued in this year’s Australian Round as he finished as the top Yamaha rider although without the results he’d previously achieved after managing a best of sixth in the Tissot Superpole Race this year.

Locatelli has thrived in the years past at Phillip Island, in races that he was able to finish, his worst ever prior result was only fifth place, and in last year’s season opener, he achieved a pair of P2 finishes. 2025 has not started off on quite the same note, earning P7 in Race 2 and Race 2, and P6 in the Tissot Superpole Race, however the fifth-year Italian rider is taking the results in a positive light.

On his season-opening result in Australia, Locatelli said, “Honestly, I think regarding my weekend we should be quite happy, I was always pushing from Race 1 through to Race.  We were always trying to improve and Race 1’s conditions were quite warm, but I think everyone was better. We made a step forward. I had good memories from last year here, but this year was completely different, and sometimes it’s difficult to compare, and say last year we did better than now, but I think we need to be realistic and clear with ourselves to understand how to improve a bit more versus what we can’t control at the moment.

“Overall, I’m happy because I was always pushing and trying to get the best result, but P7 is not my position, I have more potential than that but this is the most we could do at the moment. I can’t control everything, and there are things I don’t understand, but for sure we need to make another step forward by working hard and we will try to do our best in the next round.”

Looking ahead to next round, Locatelli is focusing on the factors under his control, and in order to improve his Yamaha R1 package. The Portuguese Round will take place at the rollercoaster Portimao venue with two days of testing at the same circuit a couple of weeks before, which both Locatelli and Yamaha – alongside Augusto Fernandez, who will replace the still-recovering Jonathan Rea – will help them make forward steps as WorldSBK returns to Europe.

Looking ahead to March’s track action, ‘Loka’ said: “Fortunately, we have two days of testing in Portimao, so this will be another opportunity for us to work on the bike and to try to make another step, I hope we can do that in Portimao. I was confident all year, I want to try to push at 100% as always, so I will try to do the same in Portimao. We don’t know what the results will be. But for me the important thing is more about pushing myself and working hard.”

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