New Jonathan Rea crew chief “has the respect of the team” after second WorldSBK test

Jonathan Rea’s change in crew chief has been one of the key developments in WorldSBK over the winter after the six-time champion’s dismal maiden campaign with Yamaha.

Rea scored only one podium in his first season on the YZF-R1, and the technical progress he made through the year seemed to be summed up by comments made at the final round in Jerez that he’d reverted to settings he used when he first rode the Yamaha in November 2023.

Oriol Pallares, who Rea brought in as his new crew chief, has not been in the role before, and was Rea’s chief mechanic until the end of last year. However, the Northern Irish rider said that it hasn’t been a complicated change.

“It’s been a super easy transition to be honest,” Rea said of Pallares when speaking to WorldSBK.com at the end of the Jerez test.

“He [Pallares] has the respect of the team, he did such a good job in November with the test plan that he received a round of applause from the crew and now he’s just down to business really.

“He’s a guy I trust a lot, he has incredible experience, it’s one little box ticked in a long list that we have to check off before the season starts.”

While Pallares’ adaptation to his new role and the team’s acceptance of him within that role is surely a positive, it is unlikely to be the thing that takes Rea from being the intermittent top-six and occasional podium contender he was last year back towards the regular victory and title contention he has been capable of in the past.

Instead, that will also require technical improvements on the Yamaha R1. On the opening day of the test on Wednesday, Pata Yamaha team principal Paul Denning said that there are developments on the way for the R1 to help with acceleration and that they could be ready in time for next week’s test in Portimao, something Rea confirmed on Thursday.

“All over the bike we’re trying to improve, the engine, the chassis, electronics, the total package,” Rea said.

“Also from my side as well, I tried to take off some weight in the offseason with a bit of success in order to put everything together.”

He added: “[There will be] More new parts in Portimao and I’m sure Australia. We’re still in a period of development, [...] we’re still analysing things and it’s good to be a part of a team that’s forward thinking like that.

“I think it was a huge shock to everyone how uncompetitive we were last year but we’ve reacted in a positive way and I’m excited to see how competitive we can be when the lights go out.”