Jonathan Rea expects "some positive steps" after season-best Estoril WorldSBK Race 1

A fifth place for Jonathan Rea was not his best result of the season outright, but Race 1 at the Estoril World Superbike round did see him match his best result in a long race with the Yamaha R1 he hopped on for the first time this year.

It’s clearly not been the season Rea hoped for after switching to Yamaha from Kawasaki over the winter, but Estoril Race 1 nonetheless had reasons for positivity.

“A positive [race] to be fair,” Rea concluded when speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 1 on Saturday.

“I’ve equalled my best long, dry race position with the Yamaha R1. So, positive. I gave everything, and only a couple of seconds from the podium, so we were close. But not close enough.”

Rea explained that the inconsistent weather throughout practice meant that Race 1 was the first chance to gather significant data to use to improve.

“It’s the first time all weekend that we’ve got a lot of laps in a row in the dry,” he said, “so it’s good information to give back to the engineers.

“[There are] some clear areas that we can improve the package tomorrow, and if I can come out of tomorrow just taking everything from the package we have I’ll be happy.

“But, today, I didn’t feel perfect on the bike, so I expect some positive steps tomorrow.

“I’ve just come from the garage now, giving a really detailed explanation, so if we can transform that I’ll be optimistic tomorrow.”

Rea continued, explaining the specific areas where he and Yamaha can improve performance.

“Just right on the edge of the tyre and initial acceleration,” he said.

“I feel mechanical traction we need to really improve. The bike’s stopping well, turning very well.

“The chassis is working good, even that long last corner I felt was one of my strongest areas of the track, but as soon as I start to pick up the bike, we’re just having a lot of wheelspin.

“We pay a little bit of the bill on acceleration then, because if you start that initial pick-up phase and you’re not really pushing that tyre into the ground, we’re losing forward momentum.

“So, I expect to make a step forward there tomorrow. Also, of course, with the weather yesterday it was difficult to make a race setup, let’s say.

“From an electronics point of view, the engineers can fine tune — just a bit of massaging here, there; engine brake, torque, and traction control, and we should have a step.”

Estoril Race 1 was Rea’s fourth with the new-spec, aerodynamically modified Yamaha R1 introduced at the Italian Round three weeks ago, but the first where he was fighting inside the top five positions.

He said that, while there are positive points about the new bike, it’s difficult to compare with the previous version due to a lack of “back-to-back testing”.

“It’s difficult to compare, because when we homologated the 2025 bike, we raced it,” he said.

“There was no back-to-back testing to understand how the bike worked, and [it’s] only in those test days when you confirm items then double-check that you can really feel a difference.

“For me, I feel like it creates a lot more downforce on the bike, the bike wheelies less, and that potentially gives us more scope to put more torque on the exit of the corners.

“So, definitely a real positive for performance, but we still have to maximise the chassis with them, as well.”