Andrea Locatelli heads into this weekend's WorldSBK round at Magny-Cours with a different setup in his garage. Yamaha has decided to change his crew chief, a move that Yamaha Motor Europe's sporting manager, Niccolo Canepa, hopes will help the Italian rider rediscover the confidence that has been missing.
2025 was a breakthrough season for Locatelli as he claimed his first WorldSBK victory in Race 2 at Assen. However, 2026 has been a stark contrast, with no podiums so far and a best finish of only sixth, which came at Assen in Race 1.
This is not the first change Locatelli has experienced. He previously switched from Tom O'Kane – who moved to the other side of the garage to work with Xavi Vierge – to Giulio Nava, who joined from the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team after serving as Alvaro Bautista's crew chief. But underwhelming results have prompted Yamaha to reshuffle again.
Now, Locatelli will work with Emanuele Martielli. Speaking to the WorldSBK world feed during FP1 at Magny-Cours, Canepa explained that Nava hasn't left the project; instead, he takes on a broader role as performance analyst for all four Yamaha bikes on the grid.
“We cannot hide it: the performance this year has been lower than the expectations for Loka, so we needed a bit of a reset to try to help him to regain the confidence,” Canepa said. “I think to reshuffle a bit the people inside the garage could be a positive thing.”
He added, “Giulio is actually helping us with all four bikes as a performance analyst. I think with his experience and this general overview of the bike he can be really helpful for us to support all four bikes. I'm confident that this is the right move to help Loka to regain the confidence and to support better Yamaha.”
This decision underscores how seriously Yamaha is taking Locatelli's performance dip, hoping to see him back at the sharp end soon. Will this change yield immediate results at a circuit that demands strong tyre management like Magny-Cours? We'll see when the lights go out.
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Andrea Locatelli ganti crew chief di Yamaha demi pulihkan performa. Canepa harap reset ini kembalikan kepercayaan diri pembalap Italia itu.
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