Jonathan Rea sets “realistic” targets for Jerez WorldSBK after “solid” Friday practice

Jonathan Rea ended Friday practice in fifth place after FP2, continuing his top-five form from last weekend’s races in Estoril.

After an undoubtedly difficult debut season with Yamaha, Rea’s recent form in Estoril and now Jerez means he is ending it with some positivity.

“Solid,” was Rea’s one-word summary of of his Friday practice running in Jerez for this weekend’s final round.

“The track wasn’t in great condition this morning because there was water coming up, but it was the same for everyone,” Rea told WorldSBK.com.

“I just tried to get on with the test plan, evaluated all three [tyre] options over the course of the day.”

In addition to the water seeping up onto the track surface from below, Rea believed the track grip had deteriorated compared to the tests held over the winter.

“I don’t think the track was in amazing condition, compared to the winter test; grip level was quite down, so a few areas to tackle with the bike,” Rea said.

“In January, it [the bike] felt almost perfect, everything was working, I did a great race run.

“But [now] I’m struggling to find that feeling; finishing the corner, I’m spinning too much on the rear and just the last part of the corner, as well, having that grip to turn.”

The deterioration in grip meant that trying to progress his performance from Friday to Saturday based on the data he had from the test was not necessarily reliable, Rea said.

“Jerez is one of those circuits where you can do 1:39s with your fingers in your nose or you can be busting your ass to do a 1:41,” he said.

“It’s a strange place. So, just today it didn’t feel as good as it did in January. Why? We don’t know.

“The bike, I believe, was quite similar, but we still need to polish some areas to make it exactly the same.

“But even with the difference in grip, we don’t know if that’s the right way.

“So, loads of things to analyse, good information for the engineers, so hopefully we can put all that together and be a bit stronger tomorrow.”

Rea was happy with the lap time he set on Friday to end up fifth, but said he wanted to improve his “true potential” for the rest of the weekend.

“I put everything together and did a good lap time, but I think our true potential we still need to improve,” he said.

“It’s going to be really important tomorrow to start well in FP3 and give ourselves a good chance in Superpole because, like in Estoril, we found out that when you have track position on lap one then it’s much more easy to make a result.”

There are two difference SCX options in Jerez this weekend: a standard version and a development option. Rea tried both, but was unable to draw strong conclusions.

“I’ve tried both, and it’s strange,” he said. “I took a [used] one from this morning to the afternoon session — my lap time was just okay; it’s never great when you use the SCX and it’s reheated.

“So, I haven’t really had a true comparison.

“Loka [Andrea Locatelli], on the other side of the garage, though, he was on a strategy that compared both in the afternoon. So, we’ll put our heads together.

“I felt fast enough with both, but we still need to make a step to be right at the front.”

Rea had enjoyed two top-five results in the long races at Estoril, and he said his target for Jerez, after Friday, is to repeat that.

“We have to be realistic,” he said. “We really maximised the opportunities in Estoril. The target this weekend is to try to fight inside the top-five. I think that’s still a lofty target for us.

“If we can do that, I’ll be more than happy to bookend the year and go into the winter, reset and come back better in 2025.”