Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) continued to show his skills at the TT Assen Circuit’s Dutch Round, finishing as the top Yamaha rider in two out of the three races and enjoying his season’s best points haul. So far, the Spanish rider has enjoyed his first MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in Yamaha blue, and while he hasn’t broken through into the top five as of the end of the Pirelli Dutch Round, he looks to be continually dialling in his racecraft round by round.

Vierge tied his best-ever Tissot Superpole classification on Saturday, and while poor starts plagued him all weekend, Vierge began the first two races of the round from P5. In the first race, he stumbled off the line to fall to P8, improving one position as he overcame Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), but he later lost the position to a surging Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) at the race’s midpoint. As rain began to fall in the later laps, he lost a place to the Portuguese rider and try as he might, he was unable to recoup the places to finish P10. The Tissot Superpole Race saw him start the race well on the opening lap, moving past Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who plummeted to P8 in the early going. Vierge, however, met a similar fate as he was passed by Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team). Petrucci rode with a knife between his teeth, first passing Vierge’s teammate Andrea Locatelli before closing down the gap to a tenth on Lap 7, and making a move past the #97 with two laps to go. It was the Spaniard who got the last laugh however, as he outgunned the Italian on the run to the line on the race’s final lap to land sixth place.

MORE TO COME: “It’s still just our third round together, so there’s still plenty to improve”

His Superpole Race pace earned the #97 a second row P6 place on the Race 2 grid, but despite a strong jump up to P5 in the first lap, by Lap 5 he was back down into P8 after losing positions to Bautista, his teammate Yari Montella, and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven). Behind him in P9, ‘Petrux’ locked onto the #97 and began burning away at the Spaniard’s gap as they both began to push harder. Petrucci went from a second behind on Lap 5 to just three tenths back by Lap 13. The Italian followed Vierge through as he shot past Alex Lowes for P7, when, fortunately for the Yamaha rider, the BMW rider’s pace began to drop off until the end of the race, leaving Vierge with a hard-earned P7.

“It was another solid day on Sunday. On Saturday, we struggled a lot in Race 1. I had a bad start, and we were able to come back somewhat, but in the process, I destroyed my front tyre. I learned from that and practised my race starts a lot, which made the starts a lot easier. I used my strengths to my advantage to go fast. Of course, there’s still a gap to the front guys that we’re looking to close, but it’s been solid. It’s still just our third round together, so there’s still plenty to improve.”

MESHING WITH ‘LOKA’: “It’s helpful sharing the garage with him as I can learn from him, and I hope we can continue like this”

In many ways, Vierge’s success with the Shizuoka-based manufacturer has been ahead of schedule, as, setting aside an unfortunate Australian Round in which he crashed out of all three races, he has been equal if not better than Yamaha’s longtime lead rider, Andrea Locatelli. Vierge, however, was pleased to see his teammate’s improved form in the Netherlands and welcomes the idea of both continuing to push forward the Yamaha racing project.

On his rapid adaptation to his Yamaha R1 platform, Vierge said: “Since the beginning, I’ve felt like the R1 has been a good bike for me. I’ve felt quite fast. This being one of Andrea's strongest circuits, he’s starting to regain his pace, as it was hard to have so little time this offseason. It’s helpful sharing the garage with him as I can learn from him, and I hope we can continue like this, both pushing together towards the front.”

Catch Vierge and the rest of the riders in Yamaha blue next round starting May 1^st in Hungary with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 30% off!