Rea eager to flip Superbike script after leading in testing

Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider and six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea finished the recent Motul F IM Superbike World Championship test at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto in Spain with the quickest time on the second day in rain-lashed conditions, Rea utilized the opportunity to familiarize himself with the 2025 Yamaha YZF-R1, but also stopped the clocks with the two best laps of the day at 1m53.058s and 1m53.636s, Rea said, “Big thanks to the crew for their efforts, two days of good information and now we more to Portugal in quick succession to keep putting the package together for Australia,”

At age 37, Rea comes off a bitterly disappointing 2024 World Superbike Championship season where he placed a lowly 13th overall in the point standings with one podium finish. Having left Kawasaki after winning six WorldSBK Championships in a row from 2015 through 2020, Rea went winless across the entire season for the first time in his 18-year-career.

New to the Yamaha organization in 2024, Rea and the team struggled all season long with development of the Yamaha, investigating countless research and development options to get the R1 up to maximum speed. After a top to bottom reset during the offseason and the inclusion of Rea’s longtime colleague Oriol Pallares as his new crew chief, Rea and company have gone to work in preseason testing.

“We were at Jerez for a couple of days, so it’s nice to get back on the bike again,” said Rea, keen for major performance games come the launch of the new season at Phillip Island, Australia in late February. “It’s always a short off-season in World Superbike. We finished testing in November and then we start again in January, so it’s nice to get back and blow the cobwebs out.

“I think after the disappointments of last year, everybody at Yamaha, including myself, we had to take a step forward,” continued Rea. “Yamaha have got quite a few upgrades to the bike and new test items to try over the next few days in Portimao and then it is on to Australia. Everyone is a bit optimistic and excited for what’s ahead, really.

“We’ve just started getting into some new items in recent days and I’m pretty excited to see the bike we start the season with. I know that we’re going to take a step from last year. I’m looking forward to trying to be a little bit more competitive.”

A perennial winner throughout his Superbike World Championship tenure with 119 wins and 263 podium scores collected along the way, Rea desperately wants to get back to triumphant form.

“I am a winner and I firmly believe that. It’s just this change to Yamaha last year wasn’t my expectation,” he said. “I was disappointed with our performance and it just takes time. Hopefully after a year of working with these guys they start to listen and understand exactly what I need to be fast. There is no doubt that when I get the bike underneath me that I need, I’m 100-percent convinced that we can be competitive and fight at the front.”

Rea, Uri Pallares and the entire Yamaha WorldSBK team were present at the Jerez circuit, focusing on chassis work and a fundamental base setup.

“Yes, it’s quite a big change all over the bike,” said Rea of the Yamaha R1. “The whole package from electronics, where we’re trying to find some acceleration and power. We’re working on chassis items. It’s going to take time to figure everything out and put the package together, but that’s what gives us optimism, you know? Certainly if we would have say on our hands and just hoped that things would get better, they wouldn’t. So everyone has made a huge effort this off season, which is nice.

“We never gave up and I have to credit the team for that. Of course I’m sure I’ll have my doubters around, but the people around me believe in me and believe in this project. Like I said, you could have two options. We could just do nothing and hope it all got better, or really go to town and try and develop the bike a bit and understand our position. And that’s what was done.

“These are the hard days now trying to get through the test items, make the right choices and put a package together for round one. Step by step, I feel my confidence coming back. It does take time and laps and laps and laps, but I’m feeling much better on the bike and feeling much better in myself, as well. Yes, step by step we’ll get there.”

The struggles just make Rea all the more determined to get back to winning form.

“It’s too easy to walk away after the career I’ve had,” he said. “I’m still so motivated to try and make a nice story, you know? I want to try and finish this well with Yamaha and with myself. You know the results of my teammate Andrea Locatelli suffered, as well. It would be a nice story for Andrea and myself to do this together and try to get back to the front together. That would make it even more special.

“The World Superbike championship is stacked with good riders and manufacturers, so we’re going to have to be really strong. Let’s see what we can do. This is always a good part of the year, isn’t it? There is always talk how many guys are going to be there in the championship, but in the end it is one or two guys that make the difference, so we need to try and be one of them.”

Rea’s first Superbike World Championship season was 2009 with the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team, and it’s been an amazing run for the racer out of Lame, Northern Ireland since then — one he does not feel is anywhere near complete.

“No, retirement is not there for me. Not just yet,” he insisted. “I’m too headstrong to try and make the best out of this story. To be honest, I try not to think about that R word. I’m definitely keeping my powder dry on that sort of stuff because I can’t think of my life without racing in it. Yeah, I don’t think this story is done by far.”