Locatelli: I found it so difficult to ride and stay with the group

Andrea Locatelli’s P9 in the WorldSBK Superpole race at Donington was the lone bright spot in what turned out to be a challenging weekend for the Italian rookie. 

Locatelli was on course for a decent haul of points in race one before suffering a big crash in damp but drying conditions. 

The crash ultimately conditioned the Italian’s weekend as recovery mode was deployed from that point forward. 

After two strong back-to-back rounds in Estoril and Misano, Donington was more of a struggle as his best finish of P9 was followed up by 11th place in race two - first time Locatelli has failed to finish a feature race inside the top ten. 

"In the Superpole Race, I lost the front group at the start and the conditions were little bit crazy like yesterday. I was in the middle group and I lost too much time but in the end we were able to take P9 to start on the third row of the grid for Race 2," added Locatelli. 

"But, in Race 2, there was just one point on the circuit where I lost too much time with the rear grip, especially in the last sector – I don’t understand why. 

"But from the first to the last lap, I found it so difficult to ride and to stay with the group in front. In the end, it was not so easy. But we can be happy with this weekend after the crash in Race 1. 

"I want to thank my crew because they worked a lot yesterday to give me a new bike. Now, we go to Assen and for sure we will try to start faster and push a little bit more for the next race. 

"I know the track from Moto3 and Moto2 which is one nice point, so we will stay focused just on the setup and to try and go as fast as possible!"