Jonathan Rea had the time to carefully analyze his situation and that of Kawasaki after two consummate meetings in this WSBK season. And the conclusions he draws are quite radical. To summarize, in Japan we need to realize that the situation has changed, particularly under the leadership of Ducati, and that we need to accelerate our working method as well as review it. Doesn’t that remind you of anything?
Jonathan Rhea made a frank outing in the columns of the official website of the WSBK which should make the walls of the factory vibrate Kawasaki. Like a call for a transition to a state of emergency, he first recalls – and to make himself understood – his situation in the championship after the games of Phillip Island and Mandalika : " I didn't expect it to be easy, but not that difficult » he begins before adding: “ after the Phillip Island disaster, I hoped it would be better in Mandalika, but it was the same shit. Physically I'm fine, but mentally it's difficult at the moment"
He specifies : " Ducati has a really strong package, even their customer bikes mix with the top five or six riders. Andrea Locatelli also improved, as did my teammate Alex Lowes. So the top 8 is really fast and if you can't escape with Alvaro and Toprak in front, you're stuck in the peloton. If you have problems overtaking, you won't progress anyway. It was like that in the first two rounds ».
From there, he asks Kawasaki other weapons to get out of this bad situation: “ our bike has been very similar for a few years now. We're making the most of it, but we need more ", said Sale towards the Akashi factory. But he doesn’t want to get angry with her yet… “ Kawasaki has been incredibly good to me and I can't complain as they continue to improve the bike. It's a big decision for a manufacturer like Kawasaki to make an adjustment to its homologation ».
Jonathan Rea: “ I'm not aware of Kawasaki's future direction and they're not very responsive to what's happening in WorldSBK »
From there, he gets into the hard part by saying his four truths: “ we have had some evolutions, but they are not very responsive to what is happening in WorldSBK. We must look to the future. Puccetti does not have many components identical to ours. To benefit from a private team, you must have a motorcycle with the same specifications and the rider must be very good. You then have three or four ways to analyze. Yamaha has done very well with the GRT team and at Ducati the customer teams' bikes are the same, with one exception. That's what you should do ».
Jonathan Rhea, sixth in the World Championship, already counts 68 points behind the leader of the World Championship Alvaro Bautista on Ducati. And while the Spaniard seems to be in a league of his own, the driver Kawasaki is under increasing pressure to just stay in the top five. The Kawasaki ZX-10RR has seen some detail improvements for 2023. However, they have not reduced the power deficit.
The observation made and the demands reported, Jonathan Rhea ends by openly worrying about the future. “ I'm not aware of Kawasaki's future direction. We give them a lot of information and data on the track and I hope we see this powering production models soon ". In July 2022, the now aged 36 years had agreed with Kawasaki to continue the contract that existed since 2015 until the end of 2024. It is expected that there will be a completely new motorcycle for next year.
But already, the March 30 and 31, there will be two days of testing in Barcelona which will have to reassure the Northern Irishman before going to Assen, for a next round where he has already declared that he will be extremely disappointed to find ourselves unable to play the leading roles. However, if you listen closely to the six-time Superbike world title, you seem to hear the chorus of the lament of the official rider of a Japanese brand already sung in MotoGP...
