Jonathan Rea, the future is less green
The future of Jonathan Rea
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship 2023 is in the middle of its summer break: Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Team Manager Guim Roda analyzed his team’s performance this 2023. Complicated season – with only one victory, the one achieved in the wet at Most – and for the first time since 2012 with Provec Racing not fighting for the podium.
“2023 did not go as we expected,” Guim Roda began in Most before the start of the summer break. “We came from 2021 and 2022 not easy. We fought for the podium, to win races and until the end for the title but unfortunately this year we did not start well. We are trying to fix things with the tools we have and we are trying to do our best. Nobody wins forever; you have to accept learning to lose and try to do your best. In racing and in life it is important not only to achieve success but also to strive for it and work for success. We will continue to do that; from the past we have the experience to understand what to do to win and we will try again. This is our goal.”
“Obviously there’s no doubt about Jonny’s ability to go strong; he proved it again in so many conditions and we assembled the bike with the right tires and he did the rest. We simply have to move forward, take advantage of the best opportunities and move on. Alex is doing a pretty good job and showing that the potential of the bike is there in terms of speed; it’s not an easy bike to handle for a long distance race. Sometimes we make a mistake with the setup to gain a little more, but instead we come back. He is doing a good job.”
In this 2023 Rea took a big podium in the first race of the season staged at Phillip Island in wet conditions before returning to the podium at Assen. In Race 1 he took his 119th WorldSBK victory by going for the intermediate tires, staying on the track as it was drying out. At Mandalika he had taken his first podium finish of the season in the dry in the Tissot Superpole Race.
Some non-typical crashes for the 36-year-old Rea, such as those in Race 2 at Mandalika, Race 2 at Assen and Superpole Race at Barcelona while Lowes crashed in Australia in both Race 1 and Race 2 as well as Race 1 at Barcelona, Race 2 at Misano and once at Imola. Both are pushing to the limit and beyond. Thus, rumors have begun to circulate regarding Rea, with Yamaha looking like a possible option despite the fact that he is also under contract with Kawasaki for 2024. Alex Lowes signed for next season just before his home round.
Roda, a former rider and well-known face in the paddock, on the rumors related to Rea and Yamaha for the first time said, “You never know; in the end races are races. There are contracts, there is motivation but in any case we will have to see. We don’t have a plan B since plan A is Jonny, so we have to work on it and try to do our best.”
Kawasaki is planning another test in Aragon to make some further steps forward although Roda did not elaborate: “This is a mid-season test, it will be important since with the season going on we will have to try many things to confirm the direction we have taken in the past, right or wrong. At the same time we will try to make steps for the future to understand how to improve the package. It is important and we will try to get the most out of it.”
