Jerez Test: Times at 14:00, another physical setback for Danilo Petrucci

In Jerez, Superbike testing has begun, marking the debut of Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira on the BMW that has been world champion for two years, with phenomenon Toprak Razgatlioglu moving up to MotoGP.

The first day started at 10 in the morning and will end at 6 p.m., without breaks. Around mid-session, the fastest on track is Andrea Locatelli who, with the Yamaha, dropped to 1'38"641. The “winter championship” gives us enticing lap times every time, but they’re hard to compare with race references. Here in Jerez, however, the official record belongs to Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) with a 1'37"659 set during last month’s Superpole Race. So we’re still quite far off. The riders are lapping under clear skies with 14°C air temperature.

The Bergamo-born rider is working for the first time with crew chief Giulio Nava, who left Ducati where he had the same role alongside Alvaro Bautista. Our Andrea Locatelli will therefore have guidance from someone with vast experience, the ideal presence to make the step up in quality that Yamaha hopes for. The YZF-R1 has been heavily updated, thanks in part to the technical concessions obtained to try to close the gap to BMW and Ducati.

The rider from Umbria had to miss the final two events of the ’25 World Championship due to a fracture in his right hand suffered during a gym training session. The limb has healed, but Petrux showed up in Spain for these tests with another physical problem. “At Estoril (where he then didn’t race due to the hand injury, ed.) while I was stretching in the morning before going on track, I felt a pull in my neck,” Danilo recounts. “Exams revealed some herniated discs in the first cervical vertebrae: I’m undergoing ozone therapy, but I still feel discomfort.”

Yamaha also sent its new arrivals Xavi Vierge, formerly Honda, and Supersport World Champion Stefano Manzi out on track. The rider from Romagna had already tested Iwata’s Superbike at Misano last summer and again here in Jerez two days after the end of the World Championship. Mid-session he set a 1'39"731, one second off Locatelli’s benchmark but glued to Vierge, who obviously has much greater experience on the 1000. Meanwhile at BMW, Petrucci, a bit banged up, is lapping faster than the other new entry Miguel Oliveira. But, as Danilo’s crew chief, the German Marcus Eschembacher, says, “The World Championship starts next year”...

1. Locatelli (Yamaha) 1'38"641; 2. van der Mark (BMW) 1'39"443; 3. Vierge (Yamaha) 1'39"653; 4. Manzi (Yamaha) 1'39"731; 5. Fores (Bimota) 1'39"762; 6. Petrucci (BMW) 1'40"126; 7. Chantra (Honda) 1'40"285; 8. Dixon (Honda) 1'40"520; 9. Dixon (Honda) 1'41"137; 10. Nagashima (Honda) 1'41"305; 11.