Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Get To Work in Jerez Free Practice

2021 FIM Superbike World Championship leader Toprak Razgatlıoğlu was the third-quickest man on track in Free Practice at Circuito de Jerez today, with teammate Andrea Locatelli finishing the sessions in eighth overall.

After returning to the top of the championship table last weekend in Barcelona, Razgatlıoğlu and Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK completed a similar programme in Free Practice to the system that has served the team so well this season, with the focus on fighting for victory in every single race.

Both Razgatlıoğlu and Locatelli worked to dial in their Yamaha R1 WorldSBKs to the southern Spanish venue with a combination of knowledge from the team’s many previous visits and proven improvements made to the winning 2021 iteration of its racing machinery. The focus has been to find their respective race set-ups, as well as determine which of Pirelli’s new tyre options available in Jerez could play a part in the weekend’s main races.

Tomorrow, the weather forecast looks sunny with slightly warmer temperatures than today’s overcast proceedings, kicking off with Free Practice 3 at 09:00 (CEST), Superpole qualifying at 11:10 and Race 1 at 14.00, as Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK’s championship challenge continues.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: P3 - 1'40.074

“Not a bad start but also different feeling in rear grip to normal, and two new tyres that we also tried. We need for every tyre a good set-up, so we try the new ones also. Not such a bad morning session, and after we also try a set-up for the race in FP2. We are not fully happy because we are third, but tomorrow I think we are feeling much better because now we will try to work to improve. I try also good lap time in the last lap, but not coming because too much spinning, not enough grip with the hard tyre to make a 1’39. Most important is we are working for the race. We will see tomorrow, we will try for more!”

Andrea Locatelli: P8 - 1'40.601

“It’s not the best Friday for us today. The condition is not so bad here in Jerez, but the feeling with the bike is a little bit strange, especially in the entry of fast corners and the braking. We tried to work around this point on the set-up but the feeling is not coming, but now we have a little bit more time to understand and to check the data to try and improve for tomorrow. But, in the end, it’s not so bad – we had a really good rhythm in the long run and I want to try and close the gap, because we can go a little bit faster and this is our objective every time. We have some ideas and now I will work a little bit with the guys to understand what is the best direction to take for tomorrow.”

Paul Denning, Team Principal – Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK:

“Not a bad first day here in Jerez for both riders, Toprak clearly quickest in FP1 but we weren’t able to find the improvements we were looking for in FP2 and maybe took a small step backwards, so we’ll do our best to recover that in FP3 tomorrow morning. Loka made a lot of laps on the same tyres and was quite competitive. As his confidence and experience grows, his feedback becomes more detailed. So I also expect a step forward for him tomorrow. There are always entertaining races here in Jerez, so we’ll try and give the riders better R1 WorldSBKs in the morning to prepare for Race 1 in the afternoon.”