With a time of 1'38.641 Andrea Locatelli produced the best performance of the day at Jerez de La Frontera where SBK is carrying out the final tests before the winter break. Thus, the Yamaha rider put on yet another show of strength, certainly auspicious for the year to come.
"I'm much happier than the test done close to the last race weekend, when I was feeling all the fatigue of the end of the championship, there were no new things to try and I had to start working with my new crew chief Giulio Nava. For these reasons it was a bit of a day, but instead today I'm very satisfied with the work done and with being able to verify the functioning of the bike with some details brought in by him, especially in terms of setup. Clearly the track conditions help everyone a little bit as there was a lot of grip and therefore it becomes difficult to make a real comparison with a real race weekend, but I want to be optimistic that if the solutions work in these conditions they should also work in others. Today with Nava we worked to put a little bit of everything together and that makes me happy. Usually at Jerez I struggle to find the square, but this Wednesday I got off on the right foot right away and that helps," he said at the end.
Speaking of Giulio Nava, can he be a spur being experienced and Italian?
"Definitely. Now it's important that he knows me and does the same with the needs of the bike, but precisely being a great technician and an expert he will be a help for me and for Yamaha. I told him today that I would like to be in Phillip Island already because although these tests are important, actually the challenge of the race is missing. However, these are crucial times to understand each other and make further progress."
Even if you don't win anything, first position is a good confirmation. Do you still have some margin?
"Today we tried to find a good feeling with the set-up and get the best out of what we have available. The response was quite good and as I said Giulio brought some new ideas and geometry to the bike that gave me confidence and allowed me to push well with both new and used tyres and especially with race tyres. We'll see tomorrow if there is progress when we try something new."
Nava comes from Ducati. What pluses do you think he can bring?
"An experience and methodology of working in a different team. He has already worked with Michelin, as well as having won with Bautista. I believe that with him I will be able to find that confidence that I am lacking and take a progressive and meticulous approach to understand well what I am feeling."
Bulega and Razgatlioglu have been going strong right away in MotoGP. Is that something that surprised you?
"No, but I was very pleased. Both of them have shown here that they are at a very high level. I can't say I'm like them even though in certain situations I managed to get close even when I had Toprak in the box. I am very happy for them because they are two talents and also for us as SBK. I don't want to go into detail, but I had a chance to do one particular race having a MotoGP rider as my teammate and even there I had my say. It would be necessary for them to have our own championship and vice versa. Bulega has shown a lot this year and, as I said, I'm happy that he and Toprak have shown that the level is high. In 2026 I'll try to stay close to Nicolò and further highlight our abilities."