Successful Misano Test for Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Despite Wet Weather

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Andrea Locatelli completed a positive and successful pre-race test at Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” in Italy today, despite inclement weather over two days of running.

With intermittent opportunities to test set-up between bouts of rain on Friday, the majority of laps were completed on Thursday during dry, sunny weather before a storm came in at just after 16.30 local time (CEST).

Razgatlıoğlu posted the second-quickest time of the test just behind his main championship rival Alvaro Bautista (Ducati), but the focus for Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK’s #54 crew was on race pace simulation ahead of the fifth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship early next month as well as evaluating new parts from Yamaha’s European R&D facility in Milan.

Teammate Locatelli also had the opportunity to test new items, including the fifth “test bike” supplied by Yamaha’s engineers, but struggled slightly on Thursday to find the right feeling with the increased surface grip compared to the race in Barcelona last weekend. After set-up changes, the #55 rider leaves with a solid base on his Yamaha R1 WorldSBK to start the race weekend strongly in three weeks’ time, taking place on 2-4 June.

Both riders completed a small number of wet laps on Friday, in order to further refine their rain set-ups and confidence in different conditions in case of stormy weather at the upcoming race events. 

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – 1’33.545 (135 laps)

“I’m very happy – yesterday finished second position and did a very good lap time, but the race simulation was unbelievable! Today, I just tried the Yamaha test bike and some new parts for improving the bike. We tried for good set-up, it’s new, but not nice weather today. In the morning I ride in the wet conditions and it was good, we are really fast. After, we are just waiting for the dry conditions. I kept my base set-up like yesterday’s bike, but just today try new parts and the test bike. We did a very good job here, after Catalunya I am riding the bike 100% – no need to save the tyre. It looks like the potential is very high, because the testing is very good, and I hope we are fighting for the win at Misano race.”

Andrea Locatelli – 1’34.460 (118 laps)

“Two days of testing in Misano was also a good opportunity to try the bike here after Barcelona race. This track is a bit different in respect to the other tracks, because I have a lot of grip – so we work to find a solution to remove a bit of chattering and the problem we had in Race 2 in Barcelona. Generally, we were a bit unlucky with the weather because yesterday and also today we needed to wait for the track to dry and also this morning it rained again, but fortunately in the afternoon today we could do many laps. I am more happy compared to yesterday, we need to improve a little bit more and we will see during the race weekend what we can do. I hope the weather will be a little bit better! It was good to ride these two days, even if the rain didn’t help. We look for a way to arrive back here in Misano ready for the race and to try to fight for a good position – I think if we can put all the things together, we can have a good weekend.”