Andrea Locatelli won the WorldSSP championship in his rookie year on the all-conquering Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha in 2020 like almost nobody else was there.

This year in the official WorldSBK Yamaha team, Pata Yamaha with Brixx, Razgatlioglu is the title challenger and Garrett Gerloff has been making lots of headlines in his second WorldSBK season.

After showing some signs of his undoubted talent in his career already - he was a Moto3 Italian National Champion before going to Moto3 and scoring podiums - he became a seriously dominant WorldSSP champion in 2020.

Five rounds into his WorldSBK career his fifth, fourth and third scores at Assen can be marked down as significant.

Sure, he knows the track well after a career racing there in smallest MotoGP class, but as well as Assen being ‘The Cathedral of Speed’ it was also once considered ‘The University’ by a select few old timers. The idea was that if you could win at Assen you were a true racer; you had graduated in your chosen subject.

In 2021’s on-track WorldSBK reality Locatelli scored two Assen podiums. He was third in the ten-lap Superpole race on Sunday morning, then both he and Toprak Razgatlioglu were pinged off the podium for touching the green track limits area on the final exit of the Geert timmer chicane.

Locatelli only just did but rules are rules and he did not get to celebrate his first WorldSBK podium on the podium… until race two.

He made the best of the mess of the Gerloff/Razgatlioglu crash and ran into a lead that would not be relinquished until Jonathan Rea took him at half race distance. Scott Redding would also catch and pass him.

A long race third was the least he deserved when even one the riders who benefitted from his Superpole race misfortune, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, said that Locatelli deserved the podium.

For Locatelli, that disappointment was real, but immediately blotted out by an even better third place.

“We got the podium in race two,” Locatelli told bikesportnews.com. “This morning we lose, but in the rules it’s correct. The rules say if you touch on the last lap the green area, you need to get the position (dropped). But I’m not really happy with this rule because I don’t take advantage, I think.

“I think we reconsider everything now because if you take the position when you touch the green, maybe we can consider everything, but today in the last corner I’m in front of Michael and I think it’s not correct penalty. In the end, this is the rule. We change something for the future.

‘Today I’m really happy because in Race Two I’m so fast and I get my rhythm also in the first part of the race. I pushed a lot. I take the gap to Johnny, but in the end I need to fight a lot with my rear tyre because we used the new X tyre. I spin a lot on the last lap. In the last five laps, it’s so difficult to ride. Also Redding came with me and passed me.

‘In the end, I got my first podium. I’m really happy because I never think it’s possible because Assen is not too easy to ride. But when we arrived here, we are fast immediately. We don’t make mistakes. It’s amazing. I think we worked very well all weekend, every session. We made a really good job.”
Locatelli clarified why the last lap track limits penalty is so severe.

“During the race, if you touch sometime the green, okay, you have a penalty. Maybe you need to make a long lap. But in the last lap, everything is like maybe you can touch some green on the race, but on the last lap, everything is out. It’s just for the last lap.

“If you touch the green on the last lap, lose one place. The penalty for me is one second plus. I don’t understand also because in my situation, I give one second and Toprak give just 0.7 seconds because Toprak see much better that he touched the green.

“I was behind him. The feeling is don’t touch the green. I don’t understand also the gap. Yeah, it’s one place (dropped), but in the end, if you check the classification, you see the time of the race - is plus one second. This is the penalty. If you check, you can see it on the results.”

In parc ferme Locatelli was quoted as saying that this was the happiest day of his life. Big statement that, given that he was a World Champion last year? Why say that?

“For me, WorldSBK is like MotoGP,” said Locatelli. “My dream is to ride in MotoGP, but for something it’s not possible to continue to stay on the old paddock because for me this is the new one. I love so much this one. This is for me MotoGP and Superbike is the same. It’s my first year in Superbike. It’s my first year with Yamaha Superbike. It’s amazing to get the podium, after five rounds. This is for me just the fifth weekend. It’s very amazing for me.”