Xavi Vierge
and getting that podium for Marc VDS was likely more important to them than the points. Tech issues meant that he was unable to repeat in Race 2 but finishing 7th still allowed him to close the gap between himself and brother Alex to just 5 points.
YAMAHA For PATA Maxus Yamaha WorldSBK, Xavi Vierge was the main man across the weekend, his 5th place qualifying result being the highlight and whilst three top ten finishes represented his best points haul since Assen in April, he never looked likely to crack top five. Hopefully, he can improve on this further at the final four rounds. Teammate Andrea Locatelli, coming from a solid performance at Misano and an impressive 2nd place at the Suzuka 8 Hour endurance race wasn’ t able to make an impression at Donington, qualifying in 14th and unable to finish top ten in any race. In the GYTR GTR camp, Remy Gardner scratched out a few more points after a very nasty looking crash in qualifying left him at the back of the grid; Manzi was scoreless, 13th in the Sprint race being his best result.
MOTOGP IN AND OUT Loka’ s teammate at Suzuka, Jack Miller’ s contract hasn’ t been renewed by Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP for 2027 and there are strong rumours he could join WorldSBK next year if someone can come up with the budget( unofficially reported to be $ 1,000,000- Ed). A seat at Yamaha makes sense but with Loka, Gardner and Manzi already signed to Yamaha for 2027, that only leaves Vierge’ s seat in question unless Yamaha brings a new team to the party. Bulega’ s seat at Aruba. it, if he goes to MotoGP( which is looking likely to be at VR46 on a Ducati- Ed), would be the prize of prizes but it’ s a reasonable assumption that Ducati would want an Italian rider to take his place which narrows the field and would count Miller out
KIWI RIDER 91