Both Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli move their sights to a strong comeback tomorrow after a Race 1 to forget at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Round 7 of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship today.

In an extremely close Superpole session, the Pata Prometeon Yamaha pair qualified on the third row of the grid, in P7 and P8 respectively. However despite a strong start to Race 1, positive results were elusive come the chequered flag.

Initially Locatelli made an excellent launch off the line down the hill into Portimão’s spectacular Turn 1, until Rea came through and forced his way towards the podium group of riders, to place himself as the stronger of the two official Yamaha riders in the opening laps.

The Northern Irishman carved his way through to fifth by Lap 4, then as he closed rapidly on Michael van der Mark for fourth position at Turn 13, unfortunately connected with the rear of the Dutchman’s bike and was forced to make a spectacular save to keep himself in the race.

Despite high confidence in his Yamaha R1 WorldSBK and having recovered from this near-crash, soon after Rea’s quick shifter system failed, meaning that he had to shift gears manually for the remainder of the 20-lap feature race – an almost impossible task when the target is to keep up with the frenetic pace of WorldSBK.

Meanwhile Locatelli was knocked back to seventh in fray of the opening lap and found himself unable to make progress forward in the top-ten group, by his own high standards suffering an extremely unusual lack of late-race pace to eventually cross the line in 11th place.

Andrea Locatelli – SP: P7 / Race 1 P11

“Honestly, it was a strange race – it was difficult to fight to stay with the front group, I struggled a lot and my feeling was not the best. We are focused on looking forward, the feeling was good in FP3 and Superpole but in the race the performance didn’t come. It’s difficult to say anything more, but we will work to make another step to be ready for tomorrow and fight again. P7 in Superpole was not bad for us, so we have a good position to start strong in the Superpole Race!”

Jonathan Rea – SP: P8 / Race 1: P15

“We definitely found a step forward today, but unfortunately quite early in the race we had an issue with the quick shifter so I couldn’t shift up or down with the electronics, and had to go back to manual shifting. The lap time obviously dropped a lot but I didn’t want to give up on the race – before this problem, my R1 was the strongest package I’ve ridden all season. Even without an amazing start, I made a good Turn 1, was able to pass some riders and felt like I could potentially catch the group in front. More positives than negatives to take from today, but it’s frustrating that we had a technical problem that kind of kicks us when we’re doing our best to keep the recent upward trend going and the confidence high! I definitely feel like we’ve turned a corner, I can ride on the limit and take liberties with the R1 to exploit its strengths and tomorrow in the Superpole Race I still get to start from my qualifying position in eighth – it gives me a good chance to get a good result and try to finish the weekend strongly in Race 2.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Prometeon Yamaha:

“In the end, we saw a lot of promise but no result for Jonathan in today’s Race 1. He rode a perfect first few laps to put himself in a top five position to challenge the front group, but unfortunately, we suffered a quick shift failure, meaning that the bike lost both auto back-shift and up-shift. On a track like this, with so many hard decelerations and up-shifts required when the rear tyre is spinning, it’s almost impossible to ride without it. We don’t know the reason yet, but at this moment investigations are ongoing. For Loka, after a promising step forward in FP3 and qualifying, the race was honestly disappointing – he didn’t have the rhythm that both he and the team expected, so we need to dig deep tonight and find a solution to help him come out swinging again in the Superpole Race tomorrow afternoon.”

Jonathan Rea’s sixth place finish in today’s Race 2 during the evening feature at the Portuguese Round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship demonstrated key further positive potential with his Pata Prometeon Yamaha.

A less-than-ideal Superpole Race result of tenth was further fuel to succeed as Rea came through the field from P11 on the grid with his characteristic grit and determination and, with a last lap pass on Michael van der Mark, secured a strong result at the chequered flag. Rea’s improved confidence in Portimão to be able to exploit the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK’s strengths has proven to be a silver lining to a challenging weekend, as he and the team aim for further refinements to help the six-time WorldSBK Champion edge into the podium fight in the coming rounds.

Teammate Andrea Locatelli was not able to turn around his own fortunes so positively, and finished the weekend feeling frustrated that he could not capitalise on the potential that he and the team know he has. Together with his crew, he will look to come back stronger at the next round in Magny-Cours, where Pata Prometeon Yamaha has enjoyed competitive success in the past. The French Round returns after the summer break, from 6-8 September.

Jonathan Rea – SPRC: P10 / Race 2: P6

“It’s been a positive weekend in some ways, as we improved my feeling with the R1 a lot, but Portimao has highlighted where we need to improve. Yesterday in Race 1 I had a good rhythm and pace until we had the technical issue, and today in the Superpole race I got a good start but fighting in the group proved difficult when everyone had grip. That compromised our start position for Race 2, I had to start P11. I made a good start, but I got involved in a few fights, especially with Vierge, I struggled a lot to pass him and it dictated my race a bit as he was not as strong over the lap, but stronger down the straight so it was a bit of a fight before I could get through. When I got through I focused on both van der Mark and Petrucci and even though the gap was there, I managed to close them down as one of our strengths with the R1 is pace on used tyres, so I was able to make use of that and stick a strong pass on Mikey on the last lap. I’ve got mixed emotions as it’s the best I’ve felt with the bike from a chassis point of view and was able to use the bike’s strengths much better. All in all, it’s been a confidence inspiring weekend as from a feeling point of view, and with the electronics, I’ve gained more trust to ride the bike more like I should. Credit to Andrew and the crew as they arrived with a set-up which gave me some more direct feedback from the rear of the bike, so hopefully we can take this on to Magny Cours. Thanks to all the travelling supporters, it’s those people who really give me strength in tough times!”

Andrea Locatelli – SPRC: P13 / Race 2: P11

“One of the worst weekends for us overall! It looked like after qualifying, we were not in a bad position but yesterday and today during the races I was struggling with feeling a big vibration from the rear of the bike and it was really difficult to manage and push hard. We know that we lost a lot of points for the championship – but we are always looking forward. Now unfortunately we have a long break before we can get back on the bike, but maybe it is better for us to analyse everything and to find a solution, then we can see in Magny-Cours what we can do. The potential is high when we are in a good position with the base set-up and the bike, so I believe it will come. Everyone on the team is working hard and we never stop trying for the maximum. These results are not what we expect, especially because we know in Portimão we were strong in the past. We don’t need to cry too much, but look forward, work hard and come back stronger.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Prometeon Yamaha:

“It’s been a tough weekend for the team here at one of our favourite circuits in Portimão. On Jonathan’s side, there was so much potential yesterday in Race 1 which was thwarted by an unfortunate issue – and then the way the dice rolled in the Superpole Race this morning created us more problems with an 11th-place start for Race 2. Converting that fourth-row grid position into a sixth-place finish and closing down on Petrucci who finished second yesterday, showed some of the progress that JR, the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK and the team have made this weekend. Perhaps with a better starting position, the result could or should have been another step better. A decent end to a difficult weekend and great to see JR giving his maximum and more, to deliver the best result possible. Loka has had a very tough race event here – the feeling and feedback from his bike has not been as positive as we normally see, and with WorldSBK being so ridiculously close now, a small drop in performance potential means that a lot of other bikes are filling the places between the end of the points and the podium. Next up is Magny-Cours, a circuit that JR has had huge success in the past and the R1 has also gone well, and where we will go with a positive mindset to get back into the podium fight.”