The 2022 FIM Superbike World Championship concluded with two races at the Phillip Island circuit on Sunday 20 November, in which Jonathan Rhea obtained two new podiums after winning the Saturday race the day before.
During a day with particularly changeable weather conditions, the spearhead of the Kawasaki Racing Team had to take on new challenges, firstly with a ten-lap Superpole race in the wet but which quickly dried out. The Northern Irishman seemed ready to fight for victory, starting in the lead with Toprak Razgatlioğlu, but when the track dried, the slick tire options chosen by Alvaro Bautista finally allowed the latter to win his bet and cross the finish line in the lead. Jonathan Rhea was only 0.043 seconds behind Toprak Razgatlioğlu to the flag, thus securing third place.
The last race of the year, scheduled for 22 laps, was ultimately shortened by five laps after the serious crash of two drivers including Eugene Laverty.
Jonathan Rhea led there for five laps and then followed Alvaro Bautista until the unexpected end, waiting to attack in the final laps to take one last victory of the 2022 season. The red flag ended his chances of another victory and Jonathan Rhea finished second in what ultimately was a 17-lap race.
With 502 points, Jonathan Rhea finished 3rd in the championship, 27 points behind Toprak Razgatlioğlu and 99 behind Alvaro Bautista. He has won only 6 victories compared to 16 for the Ducati rider and 14 for the Yamaha rider, but has 30 podiums to his credit, only one less thanAlvaro Bautista and one more than Toprak Razgatlioğlu.
Jonathan Rhea : " After the second race, there is a mixture of disappointment and happiness to end the year this way because I felt in this race that the settings of my bike were much better. We had more stability, traction, lateral grip and acceleration out of corners. But in the fourth sector I was simply losing too much ground. It was all I could do to be there again at turn four, taking too many risks and pushing the tire a bit. Even doing that, the tire didn't deteriorate, so kudos to Pirelli. I think introducing these harder tires for Phillip Island is the way to go. The race may have been a little slower, but staying within 1'31 per lap until the end was really good. I think we should be really happy with our efforts this season. Of course, I made some mistakes along the way, but I also think the end result really shows where we are. We need to improve, but saying that, I think we were more or less 25 points behind Toprak Razgatlioğlu at the end of the season, the guy who won the championship last year. This year there was a new weapon to fight up front, so we have to maximize everything we can. The team was fantastic, and in difficult times we showed what a strong team we are »
Results of the Superpole Superbike Race at Phillip Island:
Results from Superbike Race 2 at Phillip Island:
Classification credit: WorldSBK.com
