The start of the World Superbike Championship season was far from pleasant for Jonathan Rea. The round at Phillip Island fell short of expectations, but the rider and the Pata Prometeon Yamaha seem to have reacted positively in this week’s tests in Barcelona.
The British rider told GPOne.com that the sensations were good, and the problems are understood: ‘I will talk a lot with the engineers. We understand the problems I had in Phillip Island, the guys have a lot of work on the data to solve certain things. I had fun, I was smiling in my helmet, and I wanted to continue. The meeting with the team personnel also went very well. In summary, we can be happy; we needed this step forward after Australia. Now I have much more confidence about what happened there’.
Despite everything, Rea admitted that there were still some issues with grip: ‘In my long run, I started having problems with the front. Then, in the end, the problems increased also with the rear. But I had a high pace; I know everyone will have a tire drop, but I think there is room for improvement. At least for 15 laps, I had very good grip, then it got worse’.