Jonathan Rea achieved a stunning premiere pole position for Pata Prometeon Yamaha at the Dutch Round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship, before going on to finish in sixth place in a dramatic damp-to-dry Race 1.

TT Circuit Assen treated hardy fans to a thrilling Superpole session in the wet, as Northern Irishman Rea robotically hammered out fastest lap after fastest lap in the 15-minute shoot-out. Despite challenges from a number of different competitors, Rea successfully and superbly brought his #65 Yamaha R1 WorldSBK to the top spot in parc ferme for the first time.

A damp but rapidly drying track surface with threatening rain clouds overhead in the afternoon kept everyone on their toes to take the correct tyre choice before the start of Race 1. Rea made a great start to lead the first two sectors, dropping back into the front group back as the race developed. Rea’s choice of slick tyres and a strong fightback meant a chance at the podium was more than realistic, but sixth was the final result when the race was cut short by a red flag on Lap 15.

Qualifying tactics didn’t quite pay off for teammate Andrea Locatelli, who stared from P10 on the grid but quickly recovered to make significant and positive progress through the field – running as high as second place at the end of Lap 4. As the circuit dried, the selection of an intermediate front tyre made it difficult to stay at the front of the leading group and Locatelli dropped back to tenth position, before an unfortunate mechanical failure ended his race.

Jonathan Rea – SP: P1 / Race 1: P6

“I really enjoyed the Superpole session because I felt at one with the bike even in those tricky conditions, and lap after lap I built a good rhythm. You never know how fast to go because there is always a lot of risk, but the track was damp and drying out – this of course overheats the wet tyres and they move around. I kept thinking maybe someone is going to come in for the intermediate, but I had no time left. When I saw P1 on my pit board at the end, I was so happy! Not just for me, but all the guys in the team that need this lift. It was really nice for Yamaha as well and set us up for the race to make a good start. I hole-shot the start, but then in the first part of the race you don’t want to be the guy leading in those conditions because you don’t know how slippery it is. I made a couple of small mistakes and when Loka came through on the last corner, I lost two positions just off the back of the group and had a huge moment between Turns 2 and 3. Aside from that, it was a race where you just had to be patient until the track dried. It got almost completely dry and I could feel a few areas where we can improve the bike for tomorrow. Shame for the red flag to come out, I could smell a podium but I was just too far away at that point. A good solid day that leaves us wanting more!”

Andrea Locatelli – SP: P10 / Race 1 P12

“The condition was tricky on the grid, so for me the best choice was maybe to start with the intermediate, but in the end, we changed the rear and put in the slick but this was not the best thing because the balance was not the best with an intermediate on the front. I was fast in the beginning and second place after some laps, but then I dropped so fast and unfortunately, we had the mechanical problem. In any case, not a good result for today so let’s see tomorrow. We will try to find again the feeling, to work and be ready to fight again. We have two more races, but I can say just that this is not such a lucky day!”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Prometeon Yamaha:

“We hoped that Assen would be a good platform for Jonathan to take a step forward in his relationship with the R1 WorldSBK, but we didn’t count on having to take that step in such challenging conditions! A brilliant run to pole position has given everybody a big boost, it was nice to see JR with a huge smile on his face – and with something very positive to reflect upon. The race itself was always going to be a gamble for all the riders. Our tyre choice for the #65 bike was essentially correct, but perhaps we got a little bit unlucky with a final burst of rain at around five minutes to go. That meant that the harder compound slick tyre options were difficult for JR to manage in the early laps – but the upside is that had the race run the full distance, there’s no question that Jonathan would have either been on the podium or at least in a great fight for the top three. Well done so far this weekend to Jonathan and his crew, and we will hope for more consistent conditions tomorrow. For Loka, today has been of course a disappointment, the top ten would have been his final position despite finding the tyre choice difficult to manage, but it was not meant to be. As we speak, the team is looking into the reasons behind the DNF and we move on to preparations for tomorrow, and hopefully a big bounce back from Loka.”

Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea both leave the Dutch WorldSBK Round encouraged with their potential despite an overall tricky weekend of inclement weather conditions in the Netherlands.

Setting the stage for Race 2, the Superpole Race was another chance for Rea to capitalise on his pole start position from Saturday and the #65 Yamaha R1 WorldSBK rider was right in the thick of the fight from start to finish – only dropping back to P5 on the penultimate lap and missing the podium by 0.5 of a second. The first fully-dry session of the weekend delivered the first of two incredibly thrilling WorldSBK races for the 56,000-strong crowd present.

Making progress from P10 on the Superpole Race grid, Locatelli improved his prospects for Race 2 with a solid sixth-place finish behind his teammate – giving the Italian rider a chance to shine this afternoon.

Both Pata Prometeon Yamaha riders got away from the line well at the start of Race 2 to run 2-3 on the opening lap. Unfortunately, Rea found it difficult to use the R1’s strengths early on due to a harder tyre choice and was unable to use the benefits of the tyre in the second half of the race, after being taken down by a crashing Alex Lowes at Turn 1 on Lap 10.

Locatelli developed into one of the stars of Race 2, duelling with Yamaha compatriot Remy Gardner and keeping fans on the edge of their seats with decisive overtakes, as a group of seven riders came together from Lap 11 when rain drops stared to fall across the circuit. Coming though on both Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista on Lap 12, he then took the lead on Lap 14 from Gardner and looked set to challenge for his first WorldSBK win right to the end. After Bautista fought back on Lap 15, a small mistake into Turn 1 while managing some inconsistency with his front brake caused Locatelli to go wide and lose a chance at a victory challenge. But, he was able to recover strongly to take back fifth position and was just a bike length away from P4.

With no racing scheduled for May, Pata Prometeon Yamaha have nearly eight weeks to continue working to fight for podiums and race wins. The team and Yamaha will complete two performance tests in the time between now and Round 4 of the 2024 FIM World Superbike Championship, one each at Cremona and Misano late next month.

Andrea Locatelli – SPRC: P6 / Race 2: P5

“It was not an easy Assen weekend! We were happy in the Superpole Race to recover good positions and to be close to fight for the podium, but in the chicane I saved a big, big crash which cost me this chance. In Race 2, the feeling with the R1 was honestly very good – everything was under control and I was fast, but I had some inconsistency with the front brake. We don’t know why and I never had a feeling like this before, now we have some time to check the data and understand. With this, when Bautista overtook me on the straight and we arrived at the first corner I was braking hard but felt nothing, so I go wide – here we lost the lead and the opportunity to make the podium. We didn’t do a bad job, but we were just really unlucky this weekend and not many points from yesterday. We need to keep working and believe in our package, and let’s see what we can do for the next race. We have time and some days of testing to get more confidence, look at everything and see where we can be for Misano. I want to say thanks to all of my guys and the whole team because they worked really very hard all weekend, it’s never easy in these conditions.”

Jonathan Rea – SPRC: P5 / Race 2: P19

“It’s been my best weekend to date with Yamaha, so we have to take the positives! Slowly but surely I’m understanding the bike and how to take profit of the Yamaha R1’s strengths. I also never rode the bike in the wet, so that Superpole session was good and the result was great! All weekend it has not been the ideal conditions to prepare a race plan. We didn’t understand tyre choices from the start because we didn’t have many laps in the dry, so with experience and instinct made our decisions. Potentially in Race 2, I should have gone with the SCX rear tyre but I was nervous about degradation with the cold conditions. It would have been a gamble for me having not tried it all weekend, but I really struggled with the harder SC0 on the edge of the tyre to get the first part of acceleration off the corner. I felt myself that I was “there” but I ended up off the end of the front group and lost the tow to Iannone. Finally, Alex tried a pass but unfortunately crashed in front of me and down I went with him. Frustrating, because you don’t need to be kicked when you’re down – but we really can take some positives now. We have a couple of tests coming up and a lot of time for both myself to move forward and also for the team and Yamaha. It’s clear that we need to take a step forward but encouraging that both Loka and Remy had such strong races. We look forward to Misano now, it’s a track that I enjoy and we know the Yamaha R1 is quite strong there so hopefully more positives to come.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Prometeon Yamaha:

“Overall, Assen threw everything at the team and riders this weekend, but despite not achieving our targets in terms of outright results there were some great performances and very encouraging signs for the future. JR only missed the podium in the Superpole Race by half a second after a race-long battle, and Loka fought hard to come from P10 on the grid and improve his chances for Race 2 by finishing in sixth. So, we were well set up to attack the last race of the weekend! For Loka, his first win in WorldSBK could have arrived after leading towards the latter stages of the race, until a run-on in Turn 1 put an end to his chances of victory. He still fought back superbly well to claim fifth position – and one more corner would have meant P4. The potential to fight for the win was clearly there, so we will take that as a clear positive after a tough weekend. For JR, we will never know how Race 2 may have panned out with the harder compound tyre choice that could have started to work for him in the second half of the race, but unfortunately he was taken out of contention in the accident with Alex in Turn 1. The upside is that there were no injuries and Jonathan was at least able to finish the weekend by crossing the line at the chequered flag. We have two tests before we restart the race season again in Misano, so we will be looking to use those to maximum benefit and come back swinging in Italy.”