Xavi Vierge and Andrea Locatelli showcased the Pata Maxus Yamaha colours on track for the first time in 2026 “Down Under” during the two-day Official Test prior to the opening round of the FIM Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia, which concluded today. With limited tyre options available, the eight hours of available track time across four two-hour sessions required a different approach to manage the allocation – and the compounds for upcoming race weekend will differ again. Despite the variables, Vierge continued his calm and methodical adaptation to the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK which has served him well in the first winter tests with the team. The #97 crew encountered some unexpected technical issues in early running on Monday that were able to be remedied reasonably quickly and Spanish rider was happy with the work completed.
Teammate Locatelli struggled to find an optimum feeling, where Phillip Island’s super-fast, long corners require full-commitment and confidence in the tyres and set-up for the rider to extract the most from their package across the 4.445km abrasive coastal circuit. The #55’s crew and Yamaha’s engineers are working together on solutions to ensure the 29-year-old Italian can enjoy a fighting performance at one of his favourite tracks. The WorldSBK sessions took place in completely dry conditions – topping 40°C track temperatures at the end of today, with a late summer rain storm moving in not long after after the chequered flag was shown for the premier class. Cooling is expected on the island over the coming days, with more moderate conditions expected come the race weekend. Thursday afternoon will feature the traditional “chevron photo” of the complete grid that signals the start of the 2026 WorldSBK Championship before track action gets underway on Friday morning with Free Practice 1 at 11:20 local time (GMT+11) and Free Practice 2 from 16:00.
Xavi Vierge – 9th (1’29.812)
“Happy to finally be back on my R1 in good conditions, especially yesterday here in Phillip Island! We had a lot of work to do and we used these two days to recover time that we lost in the pre-season –it wasn’t easy to fix all in the available schedule, but anyway, I am quite happy with the work done. We have plenty of data now to analyse and to start the weekend with a very clear base – that was the goal of this test. I want to say thank you to the team because they worked very hard – we had some issues and they solved them super-fast, so very happy and now we go into “race mode”. Also, today with the wind it was super hard on track. We decided to make a kind of race simulation in what I think was the “worst-case scenario” in terms of the conditions, but even like this it was important for me to understand the character of the bike and to learn how to go through the whole race here. All the main things that we had in this test, we achieved, so now a couple of days left to analyse the data and then we will start the season.”
Andrea Locatelli – 16th (1’30.205)
“This winter we didn’t ride a lot, so to put everything together was never going to be easy during these two days here at Phillip Island. We tried to get some feeling and a base set-up here – unfortunately, the feeling is not really amazing and we are struggling a bit. I am feeling a lot the bumps on this track which looks like the main problem, so we will look forward to try to have a solution for that and then we will see what we can do. I trust in my team and I want to be able to push 100%. We will have different tyres during the race weekend, so this can be also another option that is on the table – there are some things that we don’t have within our control. My motivation is high to be faster and we will try to do our best. It’s the first race, I know it’s important to start in a good way and unfortunately we are a bit in trouble but we will stay positive and look forward.”
