Andrea Locatelli explains: "What Giulio Nava brings to the Yamaha garage

Locatelli tops day 1 of Superbike testing at Jerez: the Yamaha rider is pleased with the work done.

The first day of testing in Andalusia ended under the banner of Andrea Locatelli, the only rider to dip under 1'39". The fourth-place finisher in the latest Superbike World Championship set the best time of 1'38"641, completing over 70 laps at the Circuito de Jerez–Ángel Nieto. Today he had the chance to start working with his new crew chief Giulio Nava, who joins him after many seasons alongside Alvaro Bautista.

The Pata Maxus Yamaha WorldSBK rider said he was satisfied with today’s work: "It went well. I’m much happier compared to the test right after the race weekend, also because there was a bit of fatigue after the championship. Plus, there was nothing new then; I was also waiting to start working with my new crew chief. Today I’m very pleased with the work we did together, we mainly focused on adapting to his new ideas to see how our bike worked with a few setup details he brought in. I’m fairly happy, even though right now the track conditions help everyone, because grip is a bit better with these temperatures. It’s hard to compare with the race weekend, but I’m convinced that something that works in these conditions can also work in others."

Beginning to work with Nava has already brought something Locatelli sees as positive ahead of the 2026 Superbike season: "We worked for each other, to start getting to know and understand one another, to begin putting everything together. I’m very happy with this first day, also because at Jerez I usually need more time to find the right balance, whereas today we started off on the right foot straight away. That’s an advantage."

The Lombard rider went into more detail about what Nava can bring to him and the Yamaha garage: "He can bring different experience, a different way of working. He’s also worked in MotoGP and has already worked with Michelin tires; there are many things he knows, having also worked with and won alongside an experienced rider like Bautista. Technically he’s very prepared, he knows how to zero in on things, and I believe he can help me find that feeling that sometimes is missing. On day 1 he already helped me with detailed, precision work: this allowed me to clearly understand what we were testing."

Locatelli is confident that with the new crew chief he can take a step forward and be even more competitive in the Superbike World Championship: "Something will change, we’ll clash at times too. Race weekends will put us under pressure, but I have experience and I know the bike well. The important thing is that he learns to know me and what the bike needs. In any case, he’s a great technician, with vast experience; he’ll help me and everyone at Yamaha. I’ve already told him I’d like to be at Phillip Island, because racing is always something different from testing, which is important nonetheless."

Locatelli again expressed satisfaction with the work done, also explaining some aspects he focused on with the Pata Maxus Yamaha team: "Today we focused on finding a good feeling with the setup, working with what we currently have. The feedback was quite good. Giulio brought something new in terms of how to fine-tune the bike and how to position it in terms of geometry. This allowed me to have good confidence and to push well both on new tires and used ones. I’m happy with the lap times achieved on race tires. We’ll see how it goes on the second day; we’ll try to go into more detail and I hope there will be a further step."

The Italian rider was also asked about the strong performances by Nicolò Bulega and Toprak Razgatlioglu in the recent MotoGP test at Valencia: "I’m not surprised. Honestly, I’m very happy about it. First of all, because both have shown a very high level in the Superbike championship. I can’t say I’m like them; in certain situations I managed to get close. They are two great talents and they’re proving it; it’s nice to see them doing so well. I’ll try to be as close as possible to Bulega in 2026."