The opening European round of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship saw a return to form for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), with the Ulsterman back on the podium in two of the three races. However, Race 2 saw him swap places and trade paint once again with his fellow ‘titanic trio’ members Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK). In the heat of the battle, Rea crashed out at Turn 9 from a podium position as he pushed for a first win of the year.
Speaking about the crash, Rea spoke of the incident and offered insight into renewing his rivalry with Bautista and Razgatlioglu, with the three most-recent Champions duking it out: “It’s unfortunate that the weekend ended like that as we have a lot of positives to take away. I lost track position with Toprak early on but when I got back through, I had a little bobble coming out of the last corner and he came back through into Turn 1. From there, it was difficult, because with Alvaro in front, it was able to understand the gap coming through the fast sections where I could grit my teeth and make up the margin coming through Turn 6 to Turn 8. With Toprak in the middle, he was also in between mine and Alvaro’s speed there, so I wasn’t able to fully gain. Anyway, I was there and I was more comfortable than yesterday.”
On the first race day on Saturday, Rea was in the fight for victory and led the opening eight laps before being passed on Lap 9 by Championship leader Bautista, who used the Ducati power on the run to Turn 13 to get ahead. Rea managed the gap to Razgatlioglu to secure P2 and his first dry podium of the season, but cited that front tyre wear was key in ending any hopes of the top step. With the improved feeling on Sunday, it’s a story of what could have been for the six-time World Champion.
“Going into Turn 9, I crashed on the front, zero idea how, we’ll have to check some data,” explained Rea. “There was some pressure on the gear cell, maybe I was putting some pressure on the arm of the gear lever… it’s been happening all weekend to be honest, but this one time, at Turn 9, as soon as I opened the throttle and engaged third gear, that was enough to take the engine breaking, lose traction and crash. Frustrated, but we have more positives to take from this weekend than negatives. I felt like I wasn’t over my head, so whether it was clumsy big feet or mechanically how the arm of the gear shifter was and maybe we can improve something.
“It’s been a tough start to the year but I feel like we’re competitive; we can expect to fight for podiums every weekend. This weekend, I felt more comfortable and I didn’t feel like the mistake was because of that. It’s a long season, we need to take the small positives and sometimes; a podium can feel like a win at the moment for KRT. We have to absorb that feeling and be happy with the job we’ve done, but there’s a lot of work to do. We’ll roll our sleeves up ready for Barcelona!”
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Source: WorldSBK.com