Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) will have a new crew chief from the Acerbis French Round. The one-time MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race winner started the year with Giulio Nava as his right-hand man, but he will have Emanuele Martinelli alongside him for the final four rounds of the year, starting from the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.
Nava made a high-profile switch from the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, where he worked with Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) as part of a title-winning team in 2022 and 2023, to Pata Maxus Yamaha for this season, working with Locatelli. Locatelli’s crew chief from 2025, Tom O’Kane, moved to the other side of the box to work alongside Xavi Vierge for this season as the #97 switched from Honda HRC.
However, starting from the French Round, Locatelli will have a new crew chief as he looks to find some form at the end of what’s been a tough year for the #55. He has a best finish of P5 this season, in Race 2 at Phillip Island, while his only other top-six finish came in Race 1 at Assen. ‘Loka’ has not stood on the podium yet this season, something he will hope to do in the final four rounds to avoid a first rostrum-less campaign in WorldSBK.
As part of the reshuffle, Nava will take on a new role within Yamaha structure. The Italian will be in a performance analyst role across both the Pata Maxus Yamaha and GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team squads as the Japanese brand look to use his experience from MotoGP and WorldSBK to push the project forward.
Speaking in Free Practice 1 about the changes, Road Racing Sporting Manager at Yamaha Motor Europe, Niccolo Canepa, said: “On Locatelli’s side, the results have been lower than the expectation, we can’t hide from that. We needed a bit of a reset to help him regain his confidence. To reshuffle the people in the garage could be a positive thing. Guilio has been helping with all four bikes as a performance analyst, and his general outlook over all four bikes could be really helpful for us. I'm confident this is the right move to support Loka and help the team.”
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