World Superbikes: Rea still finding his feet with Yamaha

Jonathan Rea admits he’s ‘behind where I want to be’ heading into the opening round of the 2024 World Superbike Championship season this weekend.

The Antrim rider came off his new Yamaha R1 machine in testing at Philip Island in Australia on Tuesday, suffering heavy bruising to his leg ahead of tomorrow’s opening practice, with the first Superpole race in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time.

Having been synonymous with Kawasaki, where he won a record six World titles in succession, the 37-year-old made the move to Yamaha for the next two seasons initially – ad he says he’s still getting used to his new surroundings.

“It was definitely a setback on Tuesday. It was quite a, a big crash and then in the gravel the bike collected me and I damaged my leg quite a bit, so I'm uncomfortable on the bike,” he explains.

“It’s not the dream way to start but the official race weekend starts now, so I have to try and put the test behind me. We still have some way to go to get really comfortable on the bike. Whilst I really love the bike and it feels easy to ride fast, but to ride really fast, I still need to make it mine, I still need to put my stamp on the bike.

“Step by step we're getting there, but it's time to go racing now. We don't have any more time to play, so tomorrow's sessions are important to try to find that comfort and confidence and then we'll push on into the weekend,” he adds.

“This is the first round of the season, so it's important that we get out of here with scores on the board.”

“After nine years with my previous team, you develop habits and also expectations of how the bike should be ridden, but the Yamaha R1 is a completely different bike and I don't think I'm exploiting all its strengths yet. I feel like I've got some adaption to do, but I also feel I need to try to bring some of my strong points as a rider.

“In testing we've been fast, but not really setting the world on fire. We realise we still have some work to do to do that. So all focus is on getting me comfortable and the team are right behind me and supporting that. We've got a bit of a set up plan and idea for tomorrow, in let's say a different direction to what we've been chasing through the winter, so let's see if that works in a positive sense.”

CHANGED SURROUNDINGS

Rea revealed his reasoning behind his surprise move to his new outfit, a year before his deal with Kawasaki was due to end.

“I understood all the limits, I understood all the limitations and that's what was frustrating, as I didn't feel like I was able to exploit any more of the bike. Now I feel like I'm not even 80 per cwt at the moment in terms of what we can do,” he admits

“It's going to be very hard to make that happen overnight, but I'm sure step by step throughout the season, race by race, getting that understanding, also the understanding how I work within the crew and the crew work with me.

“it's all relatively fresh, so I'm definitely behind where I expected to be, but still full of optimism that we can arrive because my team-mate (Andrea Locatelli) has been really fast throughout winter testing, so I know the potential is there,” adds Rea, who says he still has the drive to succeed, despite being the most successful rider in the history of the World Superbike Championships.

“I don't like being beaten and I still feel like we have a lot to achieve. It's just trying to put it all in place, do it the right way and not get too frustrated when it's not happening because it's one of those that, when the tide turns, we need to be ready to catch the wave, and I'm sure we'll be able to make it turn sooner rather than later.

“It’s tough, especially after where I've been and the success I've enjoyed, but it's different. It's different challenges. I want to put myself in a position this year to challenge for race wins. That was so far away last year, albeit I had a sole race win at Most in the Czech Republic.

“So it's almost like a rebuild. To expect to win week in, week out like I enjoyed at the peak, it's not realistic, especially nowadays in Superbikes, where everybody's so strong.

This year throughout winter it seems like everyone's stating their claim. It could be a championship that's up for grabs right to the wire, so it just means consistency is going to be more important than ever,” Rea feels.

“We have to try and maximize our good days and minimize the bad ones. There's a lot of rookies, new riders, new teams, a lot of competitive machines out there, so it's a good time to be part of Superbike and I'm looking forward to that challenge.

On Tuesday’s accident, he readily admits it has affected him going into this weekend’s opener.

It was a pretty big high side, so electronically we changed the bike a little bit to give me more support. That could be hindering us a little bit as well now. Physically I think it's going to be the biggest hurdle this weekend and just getting a comfortable position on the bike is pretty difficult. Hopefully adrenaline will kick in and take me through, but it's not exactly how I imagined the start of the season would be,” he says.

“I expected we would be much more competitive and physically fighting fit for the first race but the cards have been dealt and we’ve tried to make the best of them”

For someone with his vast experience and know-how, not to mention unprecedented success on two wheels, Rea could be forgiven for thinking he has achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport.

Not so.

He says a race win with his new team would be a career highlight.

“It would be incredible and probably rank right up there with the best feelings of my career, because it was such a big decision to move in my career and it would validate that. It's another ambition of mine to win a race with another manufacturer as well,” he says.

I haven't really let myself imagine that just now, but I'm sure if, if and when the time comes, it's going to be amazing.”