Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli is honest about his future amid links to BMW

Andrea Locatelli has become a key part of the World Superbike Championship rider market.

The Yamaha rider is out of contract at the end of this season, and has reportedly been identified by rivals.

BMW have included him on a short-list of potential replacements for Toprak Razgatlioglu, should they lose the WorldSBK champion who is searching for a MotoGP ride.

Locatelli said: “When I arrived at Yamaha, I think my life changed a bit because I immediately won WorldSSP in 2020.

“We built my career with Yamaha, so I’d like to continue with them and maybe one day, be someone important for Yamaha.

“I feel like we have this possibility with Yamaha but, at the same time, I need to look at my career.

“We need to look at everything and understand which is the best option for me and my future.

“At the moment, I only want to think about riding the bike, giving my all, and winning with Yamaha.”

Andrea Locatelli 'never lost focus' for WorldSBK win

Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Locatelli won Race 2 at Assen, in the absence of injured teammate Jonathan Rea.

It came in Locatelli’s 154th WorldSBK race, the longest any rider has ever gone before a maiden win.

“Finally, we got the first victory at Assen in Race 2,” said Locatelli.

“I think it’s a good moment for me, my career, the whole team because we were believing for many, many years.

“With Yamaha, we never lost the focus. We were working really hard every weekend and finally at Assen, we got my first victory.

“I think we deserved it, and it was a good moment, especially at this point in the season.

“I want to continue to trust and push hard because I need more. I feel like I’m a bit angry, so I’ll keep pushing like this and try to do more.

“This was quite strange because I saw he was slowing down after the finish line. I was thinking that he thinks we’ve already taken the chequered flag, because in the past, we’ve seen some races where this happened.

“I didn’t lose my focus. I was behind him and pushing full throttle until the end, because Bautista pushed me all race.”

The fifth round of 2025, the Czech WorldSBK, is this weekend.