Pata Prometeon Yamaha Focused on Portimao Evening Success

The 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship resumes this weekend from 9-11 August at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Round 7 for Pata Prometeon Yamaha and its riders Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea before a short summer break.

A special format awaits in Portimão, with the main WorldSBK feature races taking place at the end of Saturday and Sunday at 18:00 local time in the early evening.

For Italian rider Locatelli, no matter what the schedule, the aim is to work towards closing in on fourth place in the championship standings as he leads the Yamaha riders. His strong podium finish in Race 2 at Most and consistent, points-paying results put him in a good position to continue making progress.

Rea’s extensive experience has seen him start all 35 WorldSBK races held on the 4.592km circuit since it joined the calendar in 2008, with his debut in the premier class at that year’s season finale, and currently holds the record for the most podiums with 25.

The team concluded its winter testing programme at the same venue in January before the opening round in Australia, meaning that Rea already has 130 laps of experience with the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK on the “rollercoaster” to take into the weekend and Locatelli four years of races and test days besides.

Andrew Pitt, Crew Chief for Rea, outlines the key challenges of racing in August: “When we go testing at the start of the year, there is usually a lot of grip and the lap times are fast,” Pitt explains. “Now, it’s a lot hotter – even more so than when we race in September – and the riders will initially find that there is not much grip and it’s a bit of a battle.”

“It is also a very physical circuit, so we have to keep a balance between a Yamaha R1 WorldSBK that’s easy to turn, stable up over the parts where the front wheel comes off the ground, good on the brakes and out of the final corner onto the long straight – it’s quite a mix and a compromise technically, but Portimão is a circuit where the rider can really make a difference with their physical condition in the heat and confidence on the bike. Both our riders were fast in Most, especially towards the end of the race, and we hope to carry that speed into this weekend.”

The FIM World Women’s Circuit Racing Championship recommences as well with Beatriz Neila and the Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha R7. After celebrating her first podium at Donington in the UK alongside another Best Lap Award, Neila is determined to add to her points tally and aim to fight for the win. In her early racing career in 2019, she achieved her best WorldSSP300 result at Portimão on the Yamaha R3 with seventh place in the ultra-competitive junior class.

With simmering hot summer weather ahead on the Algarve, WorldWCR kicks off proceedings for Free Practice at 11:00 and Superpole at 15:25 – while WorldSBK’s billing on Friday includes Free Practice 1 at 15:15 and Free Practice 2 18:00 to simulate conditions like the weekend’s race times.

Andrea Locatelli:

“Really looking forward to being back in Portimão, it’s a nice place and an amazing track. After our good pace in Most Race 2, I would like to continue in this way. We know that in every race we are more or less competitive and can achieve top five results – but it is always the aim to be on the podium and we have good potential to fight for it. We have clear knowledge about the bike after half a season working with Tom, we know our base set-up and we know what we already need to start with. This is a good point for Portimão but also because we now have many races in the last part of the season where we can work really well. This is one of the good tracks for us, I think – in the past we were on the podium and fast in qualifying, so I believe we can do very well. The atmosphere will be a little different because the race will be almost at night! It looks interesting and let’s see what happens, I’m excited and ready to fight again.”

Jonathan Rea:

“Portugal is a really awesome place to go to, I love the circuit and there’s always a lot of travelling support from Northern Ireland as well – so there’s a good vibe in the race week! We’ve never raced there in August and it’s also an evening race which is new as well, I’m excited to see how we go. The back-to-back races in Donington and Most helped me to understand the Yamaha R1 a bit more and hopefully we can put that to good practice when it comes to Friday Free Practices. Like we’ve learned, qualifying is so important, so without putting too much pressure on myself – we need to qualify in a good position to give ourselves the best chance during the weekend. I can’t wait, I hope I can really get stuck in and bag some strong finishes!”