WSBK Argentina J1 Jonathan Rea: “I will fight until the end but at Kawasaki nothing changes”

Jonathan Rea was already up against the wall when he arrived in Argentina 24 points behind Razgatlioglu in the championship. At the end of the first day in San Juan, he is on the ropes. Under pressure as he had not been for six seasons spent dominating his subject, the serenity of the Northern Irishman cracked after having suffered another fall on the handlebars of his ZX-10R which deprived him of the almost -entirety of an important FP2. Meanwhile, the Turk at the Yamaha is in the lead, which leads Rea to take a critical look at Kawasaki, evoking his former Honda period…

A parallel which should not be to the taste of the men from Akashi who are a little more involved than their compatriot from Tokyo in the category Superbike. But Jonathan Rhea feels that this title is irremediably slipping from his hands. And he summons his entire team to the court of the announced defeat. He does not deny his responsibilities, mentioning, for example, his last fall which cost him around 30 minutes of track time in FP2, leaving him with some unanswered questions about tire selection and tuning work for Saturday…” I need a new bike for Saturday » he says, while Argentina is far from the bases of his team… “ It's frustrating, especially because it happened at the start of the session. I lost the front. I can't really explain it to myself. I think I rode pretty much on the ideal line. I was building trust and finding the limit ».

A construction which was therefore shattered. The man with the Ninja adds: “ we were unable to compare the two tire options for the rear wheel. I know how the front tires behave, but I haven't been able to try the soft rear tires. But we can use data from Alex Lowes ».

Jonathan Rea: “ I put a lot of pressure on Kawasaki but… »  

That's it for his part. He then moves on to that of his employer: “ my pace is not particularly good. Toprak is quite strong. I looked at the other drivers' lap times. We definitely have a disadvantage. I don't want to go into too much detail about this because it always means I'm just whining. But you can see pretty clearly where we struggle. I don't like this situation. But I know her. Seven, eight or nine years ago, I was in this situation every weekend. I have experience ". And he was a Honda Ten Kate rider then.

This last opinion brings Jonathan Rhea to put Kawasaki on the carpet : " I put a lot of pressure on Kawasaki. At each debrief, we try to put pressure on the engineers and the team. But nothing changes », he points out. “ Sometimes there is more frustration, but I try to stay calm. I'm making more mistakes this year because I'm more on the limit. I don't think it's Toprak's pressure. It’s more that I’m not giving up without a fight. I will fight until the end ". Would the atmosphere deteriorate at Kawasaki ?

Superbike San Juan – FP2: