Jonathan Rea closed the second day of testing at the Jerez circuit with the third fastest time. The Northern Irishman had the opportunity to express himself at his best with his new R1 and with the team, the Spanish sun at the start of winter allowing him to spend more time on the track. After completing 68 laps Rea took the third fastest time on his final lap just before the end of the test. The next opportunity for the six-time World Champion to get to know his new R1 WorldSBK better will be on November 20-21 here in Jerez, with a key focus on development for 2024 with Yamaha engineers.
« My first feelings with this team were fantastic » begins a Jonathan Rhea who clearly does not regret leaving home Kawasaki. " The team and Yamaha were really welcoming and made everything easy. The first test was just to get familiar with the bike. It was a bit of a shock, I had a lot of different sensations than I'm used to, but in a positive way! »
On his new mount WSBK, he puts forward this first analysis: “ the R1 is very simple to use: not necessarily easy to reach the absolute limit, but easy to ride. It generates a lot of traction, which encourages you to go fast and inspires confidence. You can step on the gas and use the power of the motorcycle. It's nice and now I can understand how Toprak could ride like that ».
Jonathan Rea: “ everything is fine ! »
« Everything is fine ! Just a good first contact with the set-up and the team, so hopefully next time we can explore this further » mentions the Northern Irishman again. “ Step by step we tried different things, fork specific specifications, different tire combinations in order to understand how Yamaha uses different pneumatic compounds : I could see in the past that Yamaha was able to maximize the SCX tire. I needed a different electronics setup, but not too much. I'm using the current "base setting" of the R1 and in the next tests we will start working on the development parts ».
Then he finishes: “ it was a very good experience both days and the R1 looks more like my bike. I'm sure I could wake up tomorrow and there would be even more performances, but now I have to wait a few weeks...! Thanks everyone – I really enjoyed it! ».
For his part, his big boss Andrea Dosoli said : " Jonathan Rea has integrated very well into the team, who have done a great job welcoming him. Obviously, we have to give him time to understand the bike better and be able to attack harder. The first feedback is positive, we are only at the start of a new chapter. He always knew how to interpret the conditions from the first round. I expected that with good feeling he could attack immediately ».
