Superbike – Aragón: Rea savors his 100th victory: “A real milestone in my career”

This time, he will not have let the opportunity pass! Jonathan Rea opened his 2021 campaign in the best possible way in Superbike, signing his 100th success in the category since his first victory obtained at Misano in 2009.

But even before obtaining this record, the Briton had already made a strong impression in the morning during the Superpole, where he set a new lap record in 1'48.458, thereby claiming first place on the starting grid.

So there was the excellent start of his teammate alex lowes, who jumped from fourth place to get into his wheel during the first loops. But with his experience, number 1 kept a cool head and sat back, patiently waiting for his neighbor in the garage to kick his tires too much and be forced to let go.

Fine tire management

After securing a sufficient margin at the head of the race, the Kawasaki rider finally decided to slow down, but his perfect management of the tires allowed him to still remain one of the fastest riders on the track! “ The pace at the start of the race wasn't that bad, I was able to escape without too much pressure,” he explained to the official Superbike website. " But At the end I was surprised by the wear and tear suffered by everyone because I was going much slower but the gap still continued to increase. »

Leader from start to finish, Rea therefore won this 100th trophy in Superbike which was so close to his heart and undoubtedly constitutes an important step in his career: “The reaching 100 victories is a real milestone in my career, I'm very happy with that, not to mention that this year's bike is incredible,” he continues, before giving a little wink to another driver who is approaching the fateful mark of 100 victories: “At Lewis Hamilton's turn now! [the Englishman has a total of 98 victories in F1 and could in turn approach the mark of 100 successes in his discipline if he wins the Monaco GP, which takes place this weekend]. »

This is in any case a much better start to his season than last year, when he was forced to retire during Race 1 at Phillip Island. Appetite comes with eating, they say, so there is no doubt that the ogre Rea is not yet satisfied, and that he will aim for victory again tomorrow, during the Superpole Race and then Race 2.