Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) heads into the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship on the back foot after a difficult two-day Official Test. ‘Loka’ has proven his speed at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in the past, including fighting for victory in 2024, but struggled during the two test days. Speaking after Tuesday’s test action concluded, the Italian spoke about where he is losing out right now but vowed to find solutions ahead of the season-opening Australian Round.

On Day 1 of the test, Locatelli finished in 18^th place as he set a 1’31.159s in the afternoon session. While he was able to improve his time from FP1 to FP2, he only found a couple of tenths between the two sessions which left him as the fourth-fastest Yamaha rider, while teammate Xavi Vierge was in the top ten after posting a 1’30.420s; the gap between them was around seven tenths.

It was a similar story on Day 2. ‘Loka’ posted a 1’30.205s in the morning session and was unable to find time in the afternoon – something that was only achieved by around half of the riders – as he finished in 16^th place, this time as the third-fastest Yamaha rider. Once again, Vierge was inside the top ten as he set a 1’29.812s. The gap between the pair had come down to around four tenths, but that still left Locatelli languishing further down the order than he’d expect.

Explaining why he felt he was so far down the order during the test, Locatelli stated: “For sure, it was a big struggle during this test. Unfortunately, in the winter, we didn’t ride a lot so to put it all together wasn’t very easy, and we tried to get some feeling here. Unfortunately, the feeling isn’t amazing, we are struggling. I feel the bumps on this track at the moment, so this looks like my main problem. I’m looking forward to trying to have a solution for that, because it’s important. We’ll see during the race weekend what we can do but I want to trust that we’ll try to push 100% like always.”

Locatelli is no stranger to success at Phillip Island, making his results in the test all the more surprising. He claimed a dominant WorldSSP victory here in 2020 on his debut in the Championship, finishing almost seven seconds clear of his rivals. He was always in the top five at Phillip Island in WorldSBK between Race 1 in 2022 (his first race in WorldSBK at the Australian venue) and the Tissot Superpole Race in 2024, with three podium finishes – Race 2 in 2023, Race 1 and the Superpole Race in 2024 – on the bounce. In Race 2 of 2024, he was fighting Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista for victory but crashed at Turn 4 on the penultimate lap. 2025 was trickier for the one-time race winner, as he claimed P7 in Race 1 and Race 2 and P6 in the Superpole Race.

Despite his struggles in the test, Locatelli was hoping to turn things around during the upcoming round: “It’s difficult to say but also, to be honest, last year wasn’t easy for us. I tried to do my best and pushed really hard. There are many things we have that we’re not in control of, so let’s keep all the motivation high to be faster during the weekend, try to do our best and then we’ll see. We have all weekend to work. It’s the first round and I know it’s important to try to start in a good way but unfortunately, we’re struggling so we need to be positive.”

Watch Locatelli in action throughout the season-opening Australian Round using the WorldSBK VideoPass!