Jonathan Rea “riding in a bit of discomfort” at Aragon World Superbike

Jonathan Rea’s return to WorldSBK action in Aragon was not without its pain, but he said that his injury is not affecting him physically on the bike.

It’s the mobility in his right thumb that is the main problem for Rea, after fracturing it in France, and also requiring a skin graft on it due to a deep wound.

“First, it was really nice to ride again and get familiar with my R1 in Aragon — I’m riding in a little bit of discomfort, but no physical limitations on the bike apart from some pain after many laps,” Rea said after Friday in Aragon.

“In the hard braking it’s just opening up the top joint and pushing past the limit of flexion.

“But aside from the limit of my thumb, we need to really try to work hard on making the bike possible to ride more on the limit.

“The conditions were windy so it was difficult to find a really good rhythm and stopping the bike to the apex is the biggest problem I have — the confidence in the front to brake all the way to the apex and turn is a combination of chassis set-up but also the engine brake control so it’s about finding a good compromise between the two and trying to make a good step for tomorrow.

“Unfortunately, on the straight we’re suffering a lot and that’s really frustrating because it’s a knock-on effect to how we make the lap time.

“We need to stress so much on the side of the tyre to be with the other manufacturers, to then get to the straight where we lose out — so it’s just trying to balance everything better.

“Tyre consumption is ok and that’s a positive but we need to be faster — our “out and out” pace isn’t fast enough.”

Andrea Locatelli’s Friday was not exceptional looking at the time sheets, but the Italian was satisfied with the work he did.

“From the outside, the full potential for us this weekend is not clear yet because we didn’t make a best lap time, as we were working to prepare for the long race and to find a rhythm,” he said.

“I am more or less happy with the bike set-up, we just have some small points that we need to improve but the feeling is good.

“I am positive and we’re looking to prepare for tomorrow, looks like we need to close the gap – but the reality is we never found one good lap to be more in front this afternoon, and the feeling is not bad.

“Probably tomorrow we can do well because I feel positive with my R1, we are just missing some points but I think we can make another step.

“A bit strange day one looking at the time sheets but we understand a lot, so let’s see.”