WorldSBK “good guy” follows Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea at Yamaha

Andrea Locatelli has affirmed his position as Yamaha’s WorldSBK team leader since 2024, and now takes a third new teammate in five years.

Locatelli ascended to Yamaha’s factory World Superbike team in 2021 after a dominant run to the WorldSSP title in 2020. 

Teammate to Toprak Razgatlioglu that year, Locatelli was a part of a campaign that saw a Yamaha rider become Superbike World Champion for the first time since 2009.

Since then, however, the R1’s competitiveness has declined, Locatelli’s Assen win in Race 2 of the 2025 Dutch Round being the only victory for the bike since Razgatlioglu left at the end of 2024 for BMW’s more powerful M1000 RR, on which he became champion twice more.

Razgatlioglu’s replacement at Yamaha in 2024 was Jonathan Rea, the greatest rider in WorldSBK history, but one that was never able to be competitive on the R1. Locatelli was strong in comparison to Rea during their two years together at Yamaha, the Italian out-scoring the Northern Irish rider by 332 points across 2024 and 2025 seasons that were both marred by injury for Rea.

It’s fair to say, then, that following the retirement of Rea at the end of the 2025 season, Yamaha’s search was for a rider to come into Andrea Locatelli’s team, rather than for someone to take the wheel of the programme.

Xavi Vierge was the rider selected for the role, and Locatelli was able to get a decent first impression of his new teammate during the one-day test in Jerez after the final round of 2025 at the end of October.

“After a long time with Toprak [Razgatlioglu], then Jonathan [Rea], I have a new teammate [Vierge],” Andrea Locatelli told WorldSBK.com at the EICMA show in Milan.

“He’s from Spain, he’s a nice guy, a good guy, we can spend a [bit of] time to talk also a little bit Spain which is something positive for me, I like it. 

“He’s a nice guy, really calm. It feels like he doesn’t like to talk too much, but he’s a good guy, a nice guy. 

“I have the opportunity to know him better during next year and let’s see. 

“His riding style looks a bit more close to me, more similar, he’s a young guy like me so I’m positive to try to work together and try to do our best on-track.”

Unfinished business

Locatelli ended the 2025 season battling with Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista for third place in the riders’ standings, a battle he ultimately lost, despite having one win in 2025 compared to Bautista’s none.

“2025 we achieved our first victory in World Superbike – fortunately, let me say, because after a long time with Yamaha we were working really hard, trying to do our best in every session, every race, and finally we get a victory in Assen,” Locatelli said of his Assen triumph.

“Basically, it was a strong season, from my performance, from my point of view, because in the end we were always trying to fight close to the podium, finish in the top-five during the season; also in the end of the championship, fighting until the end for third in the championship for sure was something important and for sure positive for us.

“We know it’s never easy, but we look forward to try to make another step for the next one.”

Although ticking a first World Superbike win off his list was a strong highlight of 2025 for Locatelli, missing the medal places in the championship standings marked the failure of one objective he had for the season – a failure he is now aiming to correct in 2026.

“We tried to do [it] this year, we tried to close the championship in the top-three, but it’s never easy,” he said.

“So, for sure, one of the targets is to be there [in the top-three], try to focus race-by-race, try to do our best in every single session. 

“But we cannot control what we don’t know, but I want to be positive, I want to think that it’s possible to fight for the podium again and maybe make some more victories, and then finish finally in the top-three in the championship.”