Rea has spoken again about the time in 2012 when he was called up by Honda to replace the injured Stoner in MotoGP.
About Matteo Bellan de Motoracing
Jonathan Rhea is undoubtedly a World Superbike legend, his victories speak for him. Passing from Honda à Kawasaki in 2015, he secured the opportunity to win titles and became world champion for six consecutive years. Over the next two seasons he will race with Yamaha and will try again, even if it will be a complicated mission.
There are those who have sometimes wondered what Jonathan Rea could have done racing regularly in MotoGP with a good technical package. We'll never know, because he never received an offer that would have pushed him out of Superbike. However, he wrote very interesting pages on the subject in his biography “In Testa”, published in Italy by CDM Edizioni.
His only appearances in MotoGP's premier class came in 2012, when he was called up by the team Repsol Honda to replace Casey Stoner during the Misano and Aragon Grands Prix. He then ran for Honda in WorldSBK and was chosen to replace the reigning MotoGP champion who was injured in Indianapolis.
He first tested at Brno and then competed in both races, finishing eighth in Italy and seventh in Spain. Then he no longer had the opportunity to race with a MotoGP prototype, at most there were rumors about his possible change of category which did not materialize.
Jonathan Rea: “ at Honda, they told me to take it easy, and I had too much respect for the bike »
Sale recently had the opportunity to recall how things went when he had the opportunity to ride the Honda RC213V: “ MotoGP was the most expensive bike I rode – he told Motorsport-Total.com – and also the best from a technical point of view. But my feeling was not very good. I had a lot of pressure, it was difficult to understand the bike well, it was quite complicated and so were the tires at that time. I just had too much respect for the bike ».
When he arrived in the Czech Republic for testing, the Northern Irish rider was told that he should not overdo it and that he should avoid damaging his bike in the event of a crash. A form of pressure which probably did not help him to express himself at best: “ I should have just driven and learned the limits so as not to fall. They told me to take it slowly. It was a sort of reward for what I had done in World Superbike. But they told me to be careful not to hurt myself or damage the bike ».
Riding the Honda MotoGP was an interesting experience, but he has no doubt which bike made him feel most comfortable: “ the sensations with the 10 Kawasaki ZX-2017RR were significantly better. This is the bike I had the most fun with, it was incredible. The balance was good and it was fast, I remember the sensations I had. I felt like I could do anything I wanted. I also had this feeling in 2018 ". Now his hope for the future is to also have a good feeling with the Yamaha R1.
