After the scare of the 8 Suzuka 2022 Hours, the prodigious comeback: Gino Rea will race again next year in the World Endurance Championship.
About Alessio Piana / Corsedimoto.com
One of the best motorcycle news stories of recent years. Gino Rea, a year and a half after the terrible accident that occurred during the last free practice session for the Suzuka 8 Hours, returns to competition. More precisely, he will be at the start of the 2024 FIM EWC endurance world championship, joining the Wojcik team, the one which had already made him race in the specialty until the 2021 season.
THE RETURN OF GINO REA
It is August 6, 2022 that Gino Rea, in a situation never officially clarified, crashed to the ground near the Triangle chicane during the last free practice session of the Suzuka 8 Hours. From then on, the 600 European Superstock 2009 champion experienced real hell, with a first medical report that was worrying to say the least: diffuse axonal injury, fracture of the transverse cervical foramen and occlusion of the left vertebral artery. But in the weeks that followed, encouraging signs allowed “Speedy G” to breathe independently, and he could even return home on September 5.
TOWARDS A RETURN TO ENDURANCE
This year, Gino Rea got back in the saddle several times in Cartagena aboard a Honda CBR 1000RR-R, even doing a demonstration lap at Le Mans. In 2024, he will resume competition within the Wojcik Racing Team, the team which launched him in Endurance and which took him until 2021. He will alternate with Kevin Manfredi, Sheridan Morais and Danny Webb on the CBR 1000RR-R #777 entered in the Superstock category, with the stated objective of winning the World Cup in the category. But the most beautiful victory can only be his return to competition...
“We are extremely happy to announce such a strong Superstock team and to welcome Gino back to the Wójcik Racing team – declares Grzegorz Wojcik . - We are looking to build on our strong 2023 result and rise to the challenge again. Our riders are not only very fast but also very experienced, which will be very important as we learn and develop our new Honda motorcycles. The 777 and the all-Polish 77 crew can’t wait to get to work and Le Mans can’t come soon enough.”
“Gino knew our bike would always be waiting for him whenever he felt ready to return to action and I always knew he would return to racing – adds Sławomir Kubzdyl . - I'm happy that this day has arrived and at such an exciting time for us as a team. Gino is a real rider and fits in perfectly with Kevin, Danny and Sheridan, who have all been with us for years now and we are absolutely delighted to see them all continue with us for 2024. With the new rules allowing four riders to race in Superstock, we are convinced that the experience and speed of our crews will help us to fight at the front and develop our project in both categories.”
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Alessio Piana
