Eugene Laverty EXCLUSIVE interview: The Yamaha star "I underestimated..."

Andrea Locatelli has been “a pleasant surprise” for Eugene Laverty in his switch to Yamaha for the 2025 WorldSBK season.

Locatelli – now in his fifth season of WorldSBK, all of which have been with Yamaha – was able to win his first race in the premier class of the production derivative series this year at Assen.

Laverty, who won his first World Superbike races with Yamaha in 2011 at Monza and now works with Yamaha as a rider analyst, admits that he was “surprised” by the level Locatelli demonstrated from the beginning of his time at Yamaha having switched from the Bonovo BMW team at the end of 2024.

“The main thing was that I underestimated Loka [Andrea Locatelli], I would say, because, unfortunately, the circumstances in the last few years I hadn’t been watching him as much when Toprak [Razgatlioglu] was there on the Yamaha,” Eugene Laverty told Crash.net in an interview at the UK WorldSBK.

“Then, also, in the last few years, whenever I was with BMW, I was looking at our BMW riders, so I hadn’t really got a good chance to study Loka.

“So, I’d say in that first test in November, just the realisation that his level was as high as what it was and the fact I’d underestimated him.

“That’s the unfortunate thing in this paddock: even an ex-rider’s eye that’s out there looking, sometimes you can miss these things.

“So, that was a pleasant surprise: joining and realising that Loka really is a top rider.”

Eugene Laverty on Max Biaggi

In a sense, there is a comparison to be made between the Jonathan Rea-Locatelli pairing at Yamaha now and the first line-up that Laverty was a part of at Aprilia, where he was alongside Max Biaggi in 2012, given the difference in experience between the two riders.

Laverty said that one similarity between his time with Biaggi and Locatelli’s partnership with Rea is how they highlight the development of riding styles over time.

“The one big comparison that springs to mind is the evolution of riding style, how things change,” Laverty said.

“Max [Biaggi] had won a lot of 250cc world titles, won a Superbike world title.

“But then there was a significant change in riding style where we were all beginning to squeeze the front Pirelli tyre in braking and Max wasn’t able to adapt as quickly as us, the young blood.

“It’s the same with Johnny [Jonathan Rea]. He’s had to change manufacturer a few times and it’s a bit harder to adapt the older you are.

“But Johnny is a workhorse and he wants to find the way to ride this bike so he’s still determined to make that happen. He’s still got half a season left to try and click with it.

“Loka, I think he’s had a lot of time on this bike and he really understands how to get the maximum out of it.

“You don’t win six world titles without understanding how to adapt, so Johnny’s still determined to try and change his style a little bit for this bike.”

WorldSBK tyres set to change

The front tyre Laverty mentioned, of course, is something that will change substantially in 2027, when Pirelli – which has supplied World Superbike since 2004 – is replaced by Michelin, which has supplied MotoGP since 2016.

“They are two very different tyres, I have to say,” Laverty said of the two tyre brands.

“Okay, it’s been a long time since I rode the Michelin, I rode it in 2016 in MotoGP, and then also on a test bike in MotoGP at the end of 2017, I want to say.

“They really are two very opposite tyres, so it’s going to be interesting to see both how the MotoGP boys adapt, then also how the Michelin is on a Superbike.

“It’s going to be a big change. I think people underestimate just how big a factor the tyre plays.

“We always think about, in MotoGP, that change in 2016 when people always talked about the ECU and how they standardised things and how much of a difference that made. But, for me, the bigger change was the tyre: that’s your contact patch with the ground.

“So, it’s going to really spice things up and make it interesting.”