Jonathan Rea: Wheelbase, ABCs and a half-second lead - 2023 talks 'going well'

While the Kawasaki star was quick to play down the significance of the Friday timesheets, he feels ready to fight for victory at a track that has traditionally played to the strengths of his ZX-10RR.

“I feel good to fight for the win at least, but I don't feel stronger than all the others,” said Rea, who was followed on the timesheets by Yamaha's reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW's Scott Redding, team-mate Alex Lowes and Ducati's current title leader Alvaro Bautista.

“You can never just take a screenshot of a lap time sheet and understand all the stories, because everyone is on a different strategy today trying to understand what's what.

“But we did good work today were able to analyse all tyre options. So unlike Misano where there were two extra solutions in the weekend and confused everything, I feel we have a handle on at least tyres.

“In the morning I was really struggling over the bumps, loading the front. So we changed the weight balance of the bike, wheel bases and whatnot in the beginning of the [FP2] session.

“So I was able to understand quite quickly the pros and cons of the change. It's not something we haven't done before. Some tracks we use completely different wheelbase than others and so that brings some positives and negatives.

“I was able to do a longer run with that and the lap time was quite good at the end of the run. Not quite race distance on the tyres because we had to try this SCQ tyre at the end to understand for the 10 lap race if that can be an option.

“Donington is not so abrasive on the tyres so could be the first time we see that in most machines on Sunday,” he revealed.

‘Kawasaki has always been good here’

Rea had to wait until 2017 for his first Donington WorldSBK win, but claimed a perfect triple in 2019 and then – with the 2020 round cancelled due to covid - one victory last season.

“Kawasaki has always been good here, with Tom for example and then I was able to win,” Rea said.

“I think our mechanical traction is really good in this track. So when you compare me with Alvaro [Bautista, Ducati], all the accelerations, I'm able to get off the corner even better sometimes. It's just that when he starts to change gears he's going away.

“So we don't have a lot of long straights here and we can really utilise all the mechanical traction of our bike. The torque. It has a lot of torque, so we can use a longer gear in some areas, so I think it's one of the stronger tracks in the calendar for the ZX-10RR.”

Rea will head into Saturday’s opening race 36-points behind Bautista, but could the likes of Redding and Lowes help him take points off Bautista this weekend?

“I haven't looked at all the lap times but I hope so and the more people [up front], the better for the show, and the championship also if they can be in the middle.

“But I guess Alvaro is competitive. I didn't check where he was, but he's a fast guy, has a good bike.”

‘Ronald ten Kate told me not to waste fuel!’

Rea had set his best lap of the morning session on only his second flying lap of the day, a 1m 27.939s, which only Toprak Razgatlioglu would go on to beat.

The Ulsterman credited his instant Donington speed on being able to remember the riding ABCs for each corner - and the words of his former team boss Ronald ten Kate!

“I did a lot of interviews this week about giving advice to track day guys for example, and for me it's about having ABCs. A being the brake point, B being the apex point and C being the point you accelerate to.

“Over my career I have this ‘ABC’ for every corner in my brain, so it's just about applying that and understanding that the track is in a good shape. Of course, lap by lap it rubbers in. That's why in FP2 we were able to go much faster.

“But I think it's also to do with my old team boss Ronald ten Kate. He always told me if I was going to go slow to come into the box because I'd be wasting his fuel! So I don't do too many cruising laps!”

Rea then improved to a 1m 27.016s in the afternoon, when Razgatlioglu was next best, 0.551s adrift.

Jonathan Rea on 2023: ‘I’m definitely not done’

Having confirmed his intention to race on next year, the six-time WorldSBK champion’s manager Chuck Aksland is present at Donington this weekend to continue negotiations with Kawasaki.

“He’s getting on very well actually,” Rea said of Aksland’s progress. “It's that time of year where decisions are being made. And like I said yesterday, I'm definitely not done. I'm going to be here next year. I'm so ready to race, and so motivated.

“When I’m at home, I get excited about coming to the track again. And yeah, I'm looking forward to sharing my news [about 2023] with everybody.”

The 35-year-old explained that bridging the gap in straight-line performance to Ducati is his main objective in the current negotiations.

“I've always been well respected by Kawasaki. I feel we have mutual respect,” he said. “It's not about the financial package… For me it's about being competitive.

“We can see my frustrations this year, racing with Alvaro, last year racing with Toprak.

"My team really responded in the off-season, but we can’t just respond in one winter. It has to be an evolution, so when you negotiate with a manufacturer, it’s more about understanding their future, their ideas for the next model or whatever.

“And the biggest negotiation for myself was also, did I want to keep racing? Is this something that I really want and need to do? And that negotiation was very short, you know, because it's all I know. I love it.

“So it's more about the technical things because World Superbike now is in such a good place with all manufacturers being competitive. A lot of really fast riders and I want to put myself in the best possible position. So that's where most of the toing and froing is going on.”

Confirming that negotiations are at an advanced stage and an official announcement is likely in the near future - but not during the Donington weekend - Rea isn’t sure if this next contract will be his last.

“I said that about the last one! I think the next negotiation in one or two years time will be with my wife and not my team!” he said.

“After two Championships I said to Neil Hodgson ‘I'm done. I can walk away, it's all I wanted to do is be a world champion, my childhood dream’. But he used to always say, ‘you're a long time retired…’

“I actually don't know what I want to do after racing. The only thing that lights my fire now is watching my kids play football. But that's not a job. I can’t do that Monday to Friday!”

Bautista (Ducati) and Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) are already officially confirmed as remaining in their respective teams for 2023.