Guim Roda, head of the Kawasaki troops in WSBK, had warned that the greens had no plan B in the event that their six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea decided to leave them. A catastrophic scenario which seems to be unfolding since all the indicators, this Saturday, gave as granted this trend that the Northern Irishman would be announced at Yamaha for 2024 during the next championship meeting reserved for motorcycles from the series in Magny -Course…
The news could even be made official between this expected deadline of September 8 to 10 in Nièvre. According to motorsport.com relayed by motorsport total, Jonathan Rea will be the successor of Toprak Razgatlioglu at Yamaha. The Turk, who won the world title on the R1 in 2021, is expected at BMW for the 2024 season. In Rea's WSBK career, Yamaha would thus become the third manufacturer after Honda et Kawasakii. This weekend, Rea is also at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to attend the MotoGP weekend as a guest.
Jonathan Rea currently occupies third place in the World Championship behind Baptist et Razgatlioglu. During the final race weekend in Most, he took his first victory of the season. Since the start of this campaign, he has not hidden his incomprehension and his dissatisfaction with the strategy of Kawasaki.
Will Jonathan Rea's departure be a boon for Scott Redding?
An indication of what will be a resounding start was given during the last tests of the category in Aragon. Firstly, Yamaha had “skipped” the deadline, thus keeping test days in stock for his new recruit. Likewise, Sale is no longer testing any technical developments for 2024. During the first of two days of testing in Spain, the Kawasaki Supersport rider Adrian Huertas and the test pilot Florian Marino were sitting on the factory team's two Ninja ZX-10RRs. Regular drivers Sale et alex lowes only rode on the second day of the test.
Jonathan Rhea should therefore be the future teammate ofAndrea Locatelli, but who will share the box Kawasaki with Alex Lowes ? Scott Redding seems like the most obvious choice. By the way, with Jonathan Rhea approaching on the R1 and alex rins confirmed next year on the M1, recruiters Yamaha seem more resourceful than the engineers.
