SBK, Yamaha turns the page and prepares a comeback: why there is optimism after the Portimão test

For Yamaha, an important test in Portugal: Vierge and Locatelli worked hard to be more competitive at the upcoming Superbike calendar events.

The 2026 World Championship did not start well for Yamaha, which struggled a lot in the opening Superbike round at Phillip Island and is aiming to bounce back starting from the next one, to be held in Portimão on the weekend of March 27–29. At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve this week there were crucial test days to try to make progress and return to Portugal with a more solid technical package.

After Monday’s work, and with the impossibility of continuing on Tuesday due to rain, the Pata Maxus Yamaha team returned to lap at Portimão on Friday. Also present were the ROKiT BMW Motorrad, Bimota, and Elf Marc VDS teams. Xavi Vierge set the second-fastest time, just 2 thousandths behind the Ducati of leader Sam Lowes. Andrea Locatelli, on the other hand, finished eighth without attempting a true time attack.

Vierge completed 74 laps on the final day of the SBK test in the Algarve and is very pleased with the feeling he has achieved with the R1, a bike on which he feels more comfortable than when he raced the Honda HRC team’s CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP: "I’m very satisfied; in the morning we worked a lot to evaluate different setups and reconfirm our base. It was something we needed to do, and during the lunch break the team did a great job deciding which package was best for us. Then in the afternoon we got to work to find the final setup.

The Spanish rider is very confident ahead of the upcoming Superbike calendar events; he feels he’s at a good level: “I feel comfortable on the R1 and our race pace is strong. We also tried the softer tire and managed to extract quite a bit of potential from it, which isn’t always easy here in Portimão. Overall, I’m happy with the day: it was necessary to reset after the first round." A positive outcome for Vierge, who is eager to race in Portugal.

On Friday Locatelli completed 80 laps and was also involved in a crash, fortunately without physical consequences: "In the morning I found a good rhythm and a good feeling with my R1,” he said. “Then unfortunately I crashed at the high-speed entry to the last corner. We definitely lost a bit of confidence and then we encountered other issues that needed to be analyzed. Overall, everything went well until the lunch break, and then in the afternoon we tried several solutions to understand how to improve our setup. We’ve found somewhat the path to follow, so now we have a bit of time to go home, check the data, and analyze everything to decide where to start the race weekend in order to be as fast as possible."

The Lombard rider was somewhat affected by the crash, but the test in Portimão was still useful. Considering that there hasn’t been much time to work so far in 2026, having a dry track day to ride and try to improve was essential.

Niccolò Canepa, Road Racing Sporting Manager at Yamaha Motor Europe, said something interesting at the end of the test at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve: "We understood something very important, so now we have time to go home and thoroughly analyze the data, and we’ll be ready for the second round at Portimão. We know the goal is to do much better than we did in Australia, and I believe this test was really useful to improve the overall package and the riders’ feeling."

Yamaha left Portugal with plenty of valuable information to exploit during the race weekend and throughout the rest of the 2026 Superbike season. Phillip Island must remain just a blip. There is optimism in the garage; we’ll see what the track says in the upcoming rounds.