Photo by Yamaha Racing.
Andrea Locatelli's 2026 has slid far enough that Yamaha is reshuffling his garage midseason. Starting from the French Round at Magny-Cours, the Pata Maxus Yamaha rider will work with a new crew chief, Emanuele Martinelli, replacing Giulio Nava for the final four rounds of the year, WorldSBK.com confirmed.
Niccolo Canepa, Yamaha Motor Europe's road racing sporting manager, spoke to the WorldSBK world feed during FP1 at Magny-Cours and did not dress up the situation. "On Locatelli's side, the results have been lower than the expectation, we can't hide from that," Canepa said. "We needed a bit of a reset to help him regain his confidence. To reshuffle the people in the garage could be a positive thing."
Andrea Locatelli walks the Magny-Cours track with his new Crew Chief Emanuele Martinelli.
The move comes after a campaign that has fallen well short of what the #55 delivered a year ago. Locatelli sits outside the top 10 in the 2026 standings, a stark drop from the fourth-place finish he managed in 2025, when he battled Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci for third and finally broke through for his first WorldSBK win in Race 2 at ****** en. This season he has yet to reach the podium at all. His best result is a fifth in Race 2 at Phillip Island, with his only other top-six coming in Race 1 at ****** en. Locatelli faces his first season without a podium in WSBK.
#yamaha #magny #andrea #canepa
Andrea Locatelli's 2026 has slid far enough that Yamaha is reshuffling his garage midseason. Starting from the French Round at Magny-Cours, the Pata Maxus Yamaha rider will work with a new crew chief, Emanuele Martinelli, replacing Giulio Nava for the final four rounds of the year, WorldSBK.com confirmed.
Niccolo Canepa, Yamaha Motor Europe's road racing sporting manager, spoke to the WorldSBK world feed during FP1 at Magny-Cours and did not dress up the situation. "On Locatelli's side, the results have been lower than the expectation, we can't hide from that," Canepa said. "We needed a bit of a reset to help him regain his confidence. To reshuffle the people in the garage could be a positive thing."
Andrea Locatelli walks the Magny-Cours track with his new Crew Chief Emanuele Martinelli.
The move comes after a campaign that has fallen well short of what the #55 delivered a year ago. Locatelli sits outside the top 10 in the 2026 standings, a stark drop from the fourth-place finish he managed in 2025, when he battled Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci for third and finally broke through for his first WorldSBK win in Race 2 at ****** en. This season he has yet to reach the podium at all. His best result is a fifth in Race 2 at Phillip Island, with his only other top-six coming in Race 1 at ****** en. Locatelli faces his first season without a podium in WSBK.
#yamaha #magny #andrea #canepa
2 months ago
