Jonatha🐼n Rea’s teammate has set a lofty goal to win the season-opening Australian World Superbikes round this weekend.

Andrea Locatelli will be the only Pata Yamaha rider at♋ Phillip Island, after Rea injured his foot earlier this week during testing.

But Locatelli, who was seventh-fastest on Monday afternoon in✤ testing in Australia, then thi🌞rd-fastest on Tuesday afternoon, has high expectations.

“It was important, these two days, to get back the feeling we missed from𝓡 the winter tests,” he said.

“I am not 100% happy with the work thဣat we’ve done. But we are happy with the race simula🎉tion.

“It looks like we can fight for the podium. My suggestion when I arrived was to just focu⛎s on winning.

“Why not? It’s a special track💯. I have more motivation 🌺than usual.

“I don’t want to fly, I want to be a reali♔st, but I really feel that we can.

“I need to work a bit more but I have Friday to work on the bi🌊ke a bit more. We have more data to compare.

“I’m confident for the weekend.

“I am not so happy because I’d like to be ⛄P1, especially at this track.

“It would be a dream. I have𒊎 missed it many times. Las♓t year we were close to winning.

“I want to be on the podium,𝓡 I want to win the race. Dreaming, maybe, but I want to.

“This is my objective. Unti💛l Sunday night I will push on the throttle.

“I’m not happy because we are st𝄹ill missing a bit, but we can find something during the race weekend.”

WSBK rivals to beat?

Ducati’s 🎉Nicolo Bulega asserted himself as the man to beat, during testing earlier this week.

Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu will be in action ꦬdespite a heavy crash on Monday.

Locatelli said about his rivals at the front: “It’s difficult to know or say.🔥 During the race weekend, the conditions will be different.

“There are many manufacturers doing a really g🌄ood job.

ꦏ“It will be difficult to win but, for us, it is important to𝔉 start this season in the best possible way.

“This can be an opportunity. I want to believe.”

Is the 2025 Yamaha better?

Locatelli compared his 2025 Yamaha to last yea🍒rඣ’s version.

“It’s difficul𓃲t to compare on this track because we had two different tyres,” he said.

“Also, the ground was new last yꦉear. I feel like we’re still missing grip [compared] to last yea🗹r.

“If I compare last year to this year, with these difficult conditions, we have made a🅷 step forward.

“But it’s diꦿfficult to be 100% sure if it’ꦚs better or not.

“What we ಞ⛦have brought is not wrong! I believe in what we have. We are still working and can get more.”

Locatelli will take a new swing♉arm into the season which he hopes will ꧑pay off.

“The swingarm was one of the big things to try in the winter but the weather didn’t help us,” he said🦩.

“It’s worki♍ng, at the moment. We are🔥 happy about this. Overall it worked on this track.

“With this, we will gain. With the older package, it 𓆏[would have been] wrong.

“With this, we will improve. It is a good point fo꧒r us.🦄”