Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK Seek Winning Potential at Portimão

The Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK team has the challenge for victory firmly in its sights as riders Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Andrea Locatelli head to Portimão for the ninth round the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend, from 7-9 October, at the Algarve International Circuit.

Defending champion Razgatlıoğlu has the track record in his pocket from Portimão in 2021, a scintillating 1’40.219 pole position lap time which he followed up with a thrilling Race 1 victory. The battles with championship rival Jonathan Rea and Scott Redding will go down in history as some of the best on track battles of last year - time will tell if the history books will be rewritten this weekend!

Locatelli achieved a podium with third place in Race 2 last season but is also no stranger to victory at this thrilling circuit, having won twice in the Algarve during his FIM Supersport World Championship title year in 2020. The 25-year-old Italian is pragmatic about his chances, and knows that the 4.592 km circuit is a tough track to master in WorldSBK – he’s hoping to translate the pace shown in Barcelona to strong race results this time round.

With sunny 24-degree Celsius weather predicted throughout the weekend, the final round of the European leg of the season looks set to entertain fans on site and at home with more wheel-to-wheel WorldSBK action. The first chance to see Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK’s two riders on track will be during Free Practice 1 and 2, from 10:30 (CEST) and 15:00 on Friday.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“I really like this Portimão track, but also we know Johnny is very strong here. Start of this year we had a very positive test with very good lap time, something like 1’39.6… everyone is faster this year so we will see if we are fast enough to win! I hope for a good battle but most important I need to fight for the win again, it was difficult in Barcelona so I am searching the same feeling as Donington or Magny-Cours. We keep focusing race by race.”

Andrea Locatelli

“The most important point for Barcelona weekend was to return to being fast and stronger, and I think we completed this even though we were a bit unlucky during the races. Last year in Portimao was not so bad, it was my first year with the R1 WorldSBK there, so for sure it will not be easy because it is a difficult track to learn but the confidence I have with the bike is very good now. We will do another long run on Friday afternoon and then we will see. We will try to take home some good points because we need it for the championship position, and also to continue in a strong way to finish the season.”