The Barcelona tests allowed Jonathan Rea to breathe a sigh of relief. His debut on the Yamaha in Australia was a real disaster: at Phillip Island he never found the feeling with the R1, always finding himself in back-up positions and also having to deal with a couple of rather disastrous accidents.
All this while his new teammate Andrea Locatelli managed to constantly battle for the top positions. A sign therefore that the potential of the bike is there and that it was the multiple British champion who was unable to exploit it. Which from a certain point of view is correct, given that he is still discovering a new bike after nine years on the Kawasaki.
Things went much better upon his return to the track this week in Barcelona, as Johnny finished the Catalan tests in fifth place, finding much better sensations than those of the last outing.
Jonathan Rea, Pata Yamaha WorldSBK
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“From the first lap the bike seemed more normal. After the Australian round the guys went to Milan to analyze all our problems. We arrived here, with everything sorted out. We still have some things to work on but now it feels like a test normal. We can continue to work lap after lap”, said Rea.
“The one at Phillip Island was a really bad start. Mentally we started from scratch but we also made some changes to the bike. I had good feelings with the bike. We need to work in some areas.”
Regarding these areas to work on to improve the R1, he added: “One aspect I really want to focus on is trying to generate traction with the rear. It's a combination of the swingarm, the behavior of the bike… it's really hard to point out where we need to improve on this aspect. But zero complaints, obviously. They are working really well.”
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