Jonathan Rea, now an official Yamaha rider, has quickly adapted to his new team, as evidenced by his initial tests with the Yamaha R1. He humorously noted that the blue color of Yamaha matches well with his eyes. However, his focus has shifted towards Ducati, the dominant force in the World Superbike Championship (WSBK), indicating a change in his stance since joining Yamaha.

In WSBK, as in MotoGP, Ducati is often the target due to its strong performance. This rivalry extends beyond the track to the off-season, as demonstrated by Rea during a visit to the Milan Motorcycle Show. He commented on the weight handicap of 7 kilograms that Alvaro Bautista will have to carry on his Ducati Panigale V4R in the upcoming WSBK season. Rea expressed skepticism about the impact of this weight penalty, believing that Bautista’s fitness and Ducati’s capabilities would allow them to remain competitive.

Rea stated, “Seven kilos of ballast? Alvaro Bautista is super trained and prepared, and with the Ducati, they will find a solution to stay ahead.” He further explained that in the Superpole Race, the bikes might use about seven kilos less than in longer races, so the impact would be minimal, and Bautista would manage well.

Rea also raised concerns about the cost disparity between motorcycles in the series. He pointed out that it’s problematic to have bikes costing 44,000 euros competing against those priced at 20,000 euros, especially when the rules are close to standard production. He emphasized the need for Dorna, the organizing body of WSBK, to address this issue. Rea hopes to be competitive with the Yamaha R1, but he also questioned whether it’s Ducati’s fault that Yamaha doesn’t produce a more expensive superbike to match Ducati’s pricing.

Rea’s comments reflect the ongoing debate in WSBK about balancing competition and maintaining fairness in a series that features production-based motorcycles. His move to Yamaha and his observations on the competitive landscape indicate a new chapter in his career and in the dynamics of the WSBK championship.

O conteúdo Jonathan Rea goes public with his war against Ducati: ‘We cannot let motorcycles that cost 44,000 euros race against motorcycles that cost 20,000’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jonathan Rea started the new chapter in his World Superbike Championship career on Tuesday. After several years with Kawasaki, he moved to Pata Yamaha, and the first on-track work took place on the opening day of testing in Jerez.

The Briton commented his feelings in this first day with the Iwata-based manufacturer: ‘It was fantastic to get the first laps on the R1 because you always have anticipation and maybe a preconception of how the bike’s going to be. I’ve been super excited until this morning, and then I got really nervous all of a sudden. I was thinking: «Can I be fast with the bike?» or «what’s it going to feel like sitting on the bike during the bike fit?»’.

According to Rea, after some skepticism at the start, he soon got positive feelings: ‘I got comfortable but the position felt strange, and I couldn’t imagine riding the bike. As soon as I exited pitlane, there were a lot of positives straight away I could take’.

Regarding the working plan, the six-time world champion just regrets the rainy conditions: ‘We did three outings. The weather has been far from perfect. Even this morning, at a lot of corners, it was full of wet patches. Just before lunch, we got a lot of drizzle and then the track got soaked. We considered keeping the bike nice and dry for tomorrow and keeping with the test plan. Hopefully the track can dry out tonight, maybe it’ll be a late start tomorrow, but it’s also important to ride in the wet’.

O conteúdo ‘I got really nervous all of a sudden; I couldn’t imagine riding the bike’ – Jonathan Rea aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The first of two days of World Superbike testing took place in Jerez today, a day marked by many new developments: from debuts in the category, such as Nicolò Bulega, to some of the most anticipated changes, such as Jonathan Rea (from Kawasaki to Yamaha), to the change of teams in the Ducati universe, such as Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

The briton on the Yamaha was succeeded by Axel Bassani, on a day that also saw one of the highlights being the chance to see Andrea Iannone officially on track after a suspension that had lasted since the end of 2019.

Here are some of the best photos from the day:

O conteúdo Gallery: Best pictures from the first day of WSBK Tests in Jerez, with many news aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jonathan Rea made his debut with Pata Yamaha in World Superbike Championship testing at Jerez on Tuesday. This is an exciting moment for the Iwata manufacturer’s team.

Paul Denning, the team boss, spoke to the official championship website about Rea’s debut and didn’t hide his emotions: ‘I’m really excited! It’s a very short transition I have to say, from the emotion of Sunday and 24 hours later, taking pictures of Jonathan Rea sat on our bike. It’s kind of surreal, almost too quick a transition – also for him, to be jumping out of green after eight years. However, here we are, they are the logistics, we’re here at the test and I couldn’t be more excited. We had a great day yesterday, like an introduction day, working together in a physical way. I am absolutely intrigued to see what today and what the next day brings as part of the first part of the journey’.

According to Denning, everything that led to Rea joining Yamaha was strange but enjoyable: ‘It’s been a real pleasure to get to know the person behind the competitor, his family and the process was stressful but strangely enjoyable. It’s quite a surreal moment’.

O conteúdo Jonathan Rea’s debut it’s ‘kind of surreal’ for Yamaha aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jonathan Rea had an emotional end to the season at Jerez with Kawasaki, the team with which he spent nine years and won six World Superbike titles. Now on the Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK team, were tests are taking place, the Briton continues at Jerez, one of his favourite tracks, but with different colours.

Here are the first images of the 36-year-old Yamaha rider in a new phase of his career in the category:

O conteúdo Gallery: Jonathan Rea’s new colours are revelead, now understand on Yamaha aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

This final round of the World Superbike Championship signified the end of a very fruitful relationship between Kawasaki and Jonathan Rea, where the rider won several world titles. However, the Briton regretted his crash, which limited his last race.

In a statement, the rider recalled in general terms how the race «ended» for him, as far as results were concerned: ‘A bitter-sweet final day. I wasn’t riding with emotion or anger, I was just flowing with my bike in Race Two. My crew chief Pere Riba made quite a big change, something like we had at the test here in May, and it worked really well’.

The briton spoke about some problems that affected him almost from the first day of work, and how he ended up not having the best performance… leading to a crash: ‘All weekend the grip has been low and we have been carrying a rolling set-up from the previous round. I even told Uri my chief mechanic, ‘this race is for us.’ I got to the front and I thought this feeling was good, but of course it was too good. On a bike set-up that was quite different, with different margins I just overstepped it a bit in T2. The bike got a little bit squirrelly going in and instead relaxing on the front brake and blowing the corner a little bit, I really committed to make the corner with a lot of lean angle, and down I went’.

Rea regretted the way the race had gone, crashing out when he was leading, but he still came back and tried to make a final assault on the points:

– Not the ending that the team or I deserve. I wanted to finish in the right way. But we didn’t go down without a fight. The right handlebar was bent far forward, I had about 15mm of right footpeg left, so I just wanted to finish the race. When I saw my second or third laptime after I crashed I was doing 1’41s, which was faster than I did in Race One on Saturday. So I just kept going, thinking I could maybe score a point. I have some strange feelings overall today. Not from a performance side, or results side, just strange because I am leaving an incredible team.

O conteúdo Jonathan Rea and the ‘bittersweet’ end to an era with Kawasaki: ‘Not the ending that the team or I deserve; I wanted to finish in the right way’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

What an absolutely thrilling end to the Superbike season in Jerez! Álvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatligolu put on a real show for more than half the race, with both sharing the lead several times. In the end, victory went to Bautista, even though Razgatlioglu crossed the finish line first, but was penalised for touching the green part of the track; Jonathan Rea crashed when he was in the lead and had an inglorious but dignified farewell.

With the title decisions already settled, today was still an intense day due to the farewells and changes that would take place in 2023. Today marked the farewell of Jonathan Rea with Kawasaki, the manufacturer with which he won 6 titles, with Toprak Razgatlioglu also being one of the highlights, he who is going to BMW, not forgetting Michael Rinaldi, who is leaving Ducati.

Bautista got off to a good start, but it was Rea who moved into the lead during the first lap, with Razga temporarily in third, even before he took second place in the race.

After three laps Rea was still in the lead with a lead of almost 1s over Razgatlioglu, Bautista completed the top three, while Dominique Aegerter and Andrea Locatelli rounded off the top five.

Then, completely unexpectedly, Rea crashed when he was in the lead. The Briton lost the front of his motorbike at turn 2, but eventually got back on his bike and into the race.

Razgatlioglu thus took the lead of the race and was once again prepared to be opposed by Bautista in the fight for the race lead, in a battle so often seen this year in the category. The Turk had a 0.9s lead over the world champion.

There was still one title to be decided today, the team title, and with Razgatlioglu leading the way the title was provisionally for Pata Yamaha.

Rea, on this very special day, after riding last, had already beaten Oliver Konig and Florian Alt, and was preparing to overtake Leandro Mercado as well, something that happened shortly afterwards.

Bautista was back in the lead, but the Turk responded and took the lead again. The #1 didn’t want to be left behind and took the lead again… only to lose it again, then go back to the front… only to be left behind. The race was half over, with the front duo swapping places again and again.

The exchange of arguments between the two riders continued over the next few laps and at this stage it was impossible to guess who would emerge as the winner of this battle. Rinaldi took advantage of this duel to gradually gain time, in third place, but only 0.310s behind the leader. Razgatlioglu was getting the better of Bautista.

Rea continued to grow, already in 17th, after overtaking a few other riders, including Gabriele Ruiu, Hafizh Syahrin and Loris Baz.

Rinaldi, after a long time in third, fell behind in the race and it was Aegerter who reached the podium again.

The race ended shortly afterwards, with Razgatlioglu crossing the finish line in first place:

But… he was penalised one position and the win went to Bautista:

O conteúdo On a last day before many changes, Bautista and Razgatlioglu put on a show in Jerez; the Turk finished in front but was penalised by one position aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

This World Superbike Championship is coming to an end this weekend at Jerez, with the hot subject to be: who will become the world champion? Alvaro Bautista has pretty much a hand on the title but Toprak Razgatlioglu is no rider to discard and will for sure give his best. This round will also mark the end of an era, as Jonathan Rea says goodbye to Kawasaki, with which he won six titles.

This is it then; the final round of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has arrived and there’s plenty to be decided. However, whilst the title is mathematically still on, there’s a whole host of chapters about to be closed across the various teams, plus other breaking news. So, for the last time in 2023: the hot topics from Thursday’s interviews are below!

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK): ‘It feels like the perfect book-end’

The last weekend in green for Jonathan Rea, a close to an incredible stint: “It feels really different, the whole approach to the weekend. We know it’s the final page of our huge chapter in my career and it feels like the perfect book-end here at Jerez, to finish the journey that started here in 2015 when I won my first World Championship. I’m excited to get stuck in to the weekend and try to build on the past weekends. We’ve been podium contenders from mid-season onwards. Podiums are the target but we’ll start tomorrow with Free Practice. I’m full of ambition to make myself and my team really proud. Ideally, it’d be that we go out on a huge high with a euphoric feeling. On my 2024 crew, I have total faith with those who I’ll work with and I’m quitter excited too; it’s not very long to wait now. With regulations, you have to take time to understand but what’s nice is that the Championship is working hard to make it sustainably competitive for everyone.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): ‘I think the new regulations are necessary’

He can become a double Champion this weekend and take the crown on home soil but Alvaro Bautista is staying grounded for now: “It’s always really nice to race in Spain, especially here at Jerez. The Championship is not over because mathematically it’s open. I remember in 2006 when I won the title in 125cc, I won it in Australia, so it was far from home. Last year, I won it in Indonesia which is still so far; a bit closer but still far from home! This season, if we’re able to get the title here, it’ll be amazing because I can share it with my friends and family. I think the new regulations are necessary because you have to adapt to the new times. I will try the bike with the new regulations and let’s see. Maybe not the complete bike with the new regulations but parts of them we will try on Tuesday.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK): ‘Phil is always coming with me… I’ll never forget this; we are Champions together’

The title may be all but impossible but emotions are elsewhere for Toprak Razgatlioglu ahead of Jerez: “Firstly, I say I’m very excited for my last race with Yamaha after four years and also the Championship, we are still fighting but he needs just two points. I’m fighting for the win. I know Alvaro’s very strong, and Jonny is, but I’ll try to do my best again. The Teams’ Championship is very good for Yamaha and the team, but I’m always focused on the Riders’ Championship. I hope we do a very good job this weekend. I’m very happy. When I go to different brands, Phil is always coming with me because we are a good package. In 2019, he believed in me and started to work with me at Puccetti Kawasaki. Now, I’m going to different brand with him, not alone and I’ll never forget this. We are Champions together and we lose together. Next year, I will have more power and I don’t know what’s changing for me. I don’t know these two new tracks; I always like new tracks because I’m really fast to adapt.

O conteúdo Last battle for the championship and the last dance before new challenges, this will be WSBK season finale at Jerez aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jonathan Rea’s farewell to Kawasaki is almost over, with Jerez hosting the final round of the World Superbike Championship this weekend. It will be Rea’s last dance with the manufacturer that has been with him for the last seven years and with which he has won six world titles, which is why it will be very intense in terms of emotions, with the rider wanting to go out on a high note.

Looking ahead to the decisive round of the World Championship, where the champion will be crowned, Rea began by reflecting on the mental aspect, with his farewell to the team in sight: ‘It is a strange feeling going to Jerez knowing that it is my last round with KRT and I am sure it is going to be an emotional weekend together with the staff’.

The #65 then spoke about the work that will take place on the spanish track: ‘On track we will try to do the best job we can. It is a track that perhaps has been a difficult one for us but we have also shared some great times there, winning races. It was also the scene of winning my first World Championship for Kawasaki. We do a lot of laps there in the winter tests so we have a good idea of set-up. Of course, the Ninja ZX-10RR has evolved throughout the year and we have made steps in a positive direction’.

Rea continued his analysis, with the championship place in mind: ‘I really want to finish the year strongly for my team. We are still fighting for third place in the championship. The big target of the weekend is to enjoy riding the bike and do the best job we can but also to ensure we deliver that top three in the World Championship’.

The briton then concluded with a clear wish: ‘I want to really try to enjoy the weekend with my team. All the build up to the weekend, all the weekend, and of course post-race, reflecting on what an amazing partnership it has been – I am sure it is going to be an emotional one. I hope I can give a good account of myself and do the team proud’.

O conteúdo Jonathan Rea prepares to say goodbye to Kawasaki at Jerez: ‘It is a strange feeling going to Jerez knowing that it is my last round with KRT’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

The Superbike World Championship is in Portugal this weekend for another round on the 2023 calendar. And after a very lively Friday, with some surprises, the Superopole was no different.

Jonathan Rea showed a very strong pace, reaching the 1st place of the grid, with a lap that put him only 0.010s from the record of the Algarve circuit in a Superbike, a record that belongs exactly to the six-time world champion. At his side was his team-mate Sam Lowes, who managed to take second place in qualifying, the day after learning who his new team-mate will be in 2024.

Opening the second row was Andrea Locatelli, who despite the 3rd position will be forced from the last place of the grid, after a penalty applied, for not having removed his Yamaha from the track in Aragon, when it began to lose fluids and were shown the respective warnings. Behind him, in 4th place, Toprak Razgatlioglou managed to surpass Alvaro Bautista who went no further than a 5th place.

In sixth, and best Honda, was Iker Lecuona, who saw his teammate qualify only 14th. Garrett Gerloff, who even closed FP1 in first place and FP2 in second, did not go beyond 12th position in Superpole.

With the Kawasaki showing excellent pace and Razgatlioglu in urgent need of points to prevent Bautista from reclaiming the title, the first race of the weekend in the biggest category of the SBK world championship promises to be quite lively and could offer surprises up front, although a three-way fight with Rea is expected once again.  Bautista and Toprak fighting for the top spot on the podium.

O conteúdo Rea and Lowes dominate, Yamaha lurking and Bautista just 5th aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.