EXCITING CONTENT
ANDREA LOCATELLI
PATA Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK
When we asked the dominant 2020 WorldSSP champion where he saw himself in five years time , just before the 2021 WorldSBK season started , he simply wasn ’ t sure . Maybe that was a factor of having raced full-time in four different FIM World Championship classes in six years ? But we can all agree that with one round to go he is easily the Rookie of the Year . It is not like he has no competition or anything , but he is clearly the best rookie . With a factory Pata Yamaha with Brixx Yamaha R1 under him , two times WorldSSP champion Andrew Pitt as his crew chief and all the confidence and motivation of winning the 2020 WorldSSP title with ease , maybe some people expected him to make a big splash in 2021 ? His early season rides were not exactly in the Ben Spies class ( the multiple AMA Champion arrived on a global stage and won the title first time out ) but with riders like Razgatlioglu , Rea , Redding and all the others already experienced factory riders taking podiums as early as the fifth round felt like over-performing . Four third place finishes so far confirms it . Locatelli even sometimes works his yellow socks off ( he has a thing about the colour yellow , BTW ) a bit too much . It is a great credit to his character and work ethic that his team have actually tried to get him to be less involved in the bike set-up and how everything is working from a tech point of view , and save his mental energies for the job or riding . His 2021 rookie podium rides are impressive enough but it is his double-digit total of fourth place finishes that underline his true qualities , despite being a rookie in a rock hard class . Only Razgatlioglu , Rea , Redding and Rinaldi are ahead of him in the championship points right now , and only those kinds of forces and some other proven race winners have stopped him taking even more podium finishes . ‘ Loka ’ is still only 25 years old . The single biggest insight into the racer ’ s heart and soul that Locatelli possesses is that after losing his first ever podium finish in the Tissot- Superpole race at Assen , by touching the green track limits paint on the final corner , he did not go into a rage and fall apart like a cheap watch . He collected himself , refocussed and he went out in the very next race and scored a podium for real . A real racer , a real worker he has been clearly the best of the new bunch in 2021 over the full season .
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