It was with a tight smile that Jonathan Rea left the Jerez track, which was relaunching the WSBK championship this weekend. The five-time World Champion was indeed happy to bring home a victory, and a podium, but he was green, like his Kawasaki, to have had to settle for a simple sixth place during race 2. A ranking out of of the top 5 which he had not experienced since a visit to Phillip Island in 2014. He was then on a Honda…
A podium in the first race, a victory in the sprint round, two events which boded well for Jonathan Rhea before the final race on Sunday afternoon. The Northern Irishman started from pole position. But very quickly it became clear to him that it wouldn't do it. He explains why: “ during Race 2, I was hanging on the first lap ", entrusts Sale. " I got to turn 3 and the rear was crooked ».
“I was hung from the first round”
« I was the only one to use the hard rear tire, but I had chosen it the day before and it performed well. It was passing power, but today it just wasn't working. I was just trying to hold my place as much as possible and finish. It was a very long and grueling race, but we did what we had to do. "
« The only change was to the rear tire. During the Superpole Race we used the SCX tire, which is dedicated to short distances, and then we were able to switch to the race option in the afternoon, which had the biggest influence. Compared to our time in Race 1, we were much slower, so we need to analyze the data with my team and the Pirelli engineers to understand what is going on, but it is not the best way to finish the race. weekend ».
« It would have been nice to reverse the hierarchy of results, but the Championship is long, with three races per event and I just have to keep doing my best and see what happens. "
Jonathan Rhea leaves all the same Jerez with his 90th absolute victory in WSBK and his 75th with Kawasaki.
WSBK championship ranking after Jerez :
