After the news he would leave Kawasaki at the end of the year, Jonathan Rea’s new home has been announced: he will join the factory Yamaha team for the next two seasons. Eric de Seynes, President & CEO of Yamaha Motor Europe, couldn’t hide his happiness.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will switch from green to blue for the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as he links up with Paul Denning’s Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK squad after he leaves Kawasaki at the end of the season. The six-time Champion has spent nine seasons at the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK and won all his titles with them, as well as over 100 race wins, but will now start a new challenge in Yamaha blue in 2024 as he replaces Toprak Razgatlioglu, who switches to BMW for next year.
The Ulsterman will line up alongside Andrea Locatelli, who also has a contract for the same period, with the duo currently engaged in a fierce fight for third in the Championship standings.
Here are the words from de Seynes regarding the arrival of the WSBK star in 2024:
–We are very happy to welcome Jonathan to the Yamaha family and we are very much motivated to collaborate with him for the future. We have the same motivation to win, and the same passion for WorldSBK. Like him we have been world champions in recent years and we want to be back on the top of the box once again. Jonathan’s drive, determination and hunger for success have been constants throughout his career and these attibutes will contribute to our future common success. We truly believe that Jonathan can add to his world championship tally, writing his name even larger in the history books, and we are equally confident that he can achieve this together with us. We are working hard to improve further our race proven Yamaha R1, to ensure that we provide Jonathan with exactly what he needs to achieve his and Yamaha’s goals in 2024 and 2025.
Source: WorldSBK and Yamaha Racing