Update on Jonathan Rea recovery timeline, and a theory for cause of crash

Following his crash on the opening day of this week’s two-day World Superbike test in Phillip Island, the early details of Jonathan Rea’s recovery plan have been detailed.

Rea crashed at turn two on Monday (17 February) morning at Phillip Island during the test which is taking place in advance of this weekend’s opening round of the 2025 season.

The six-time World Champion suffered multiple fractures in his left foot, ruling him out of the remainder of the test and this weekend’s Australian Round.

Pata Yamaha team principal Paul Denning said that Rea’s recovery plan is not “exactly clear” yet but that he will return soon to the UK for surgery.

“So, the next steps are not exactly clear, but the basic plan is to get back to the UK as quickly as possible and to have some surgery and start the recovery process.”

Rea is already ruled out of the opening round in Phillip Island but a return at the second round in Portimao on 28-30 March is also not guaranteed.

“At this stage it’s difficult to say, I prefer not to say,” Denning said when asked if Rea will return in Portugal.

“He’s seeing a specialist here [in Australia] on Wednesday before he goes home in order to get a sort of full initial report and understanding of the injury.

“After we have that and after surgery is planned, let’s see, but Portimao is not so far so it’s going to be a big challenge.”

Why did Jonathan Rea crash in testing?

Denning suggested that the characteristics of the Phillip Island circuit – which was resurfaced late in 2023 – were a factor in the severity of Rea’s crash, and said that the Northern Irish rider was “unlucky” to have been caught up with the bike in the way he was.

“Not an easy day on Jonathan’s [Rea] side and a bitterly disappointing day for him, for his crew, and for everybody in the Yamaha World Superbike project,” said Denning, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“We’ve had such a step over the winter with Jonathan – with his confidence and his comfort on the R1 and his ability to be consistent and smooth and get the best out of the bike.”

Denning added: “Everything was looking normal today, but Phillip Island has a habit of biting you quite hard sometimes.

“It’s a very fast and very high-grip circuit, but such a high-grip circuit also means that when the grip releases that it can – we’ve seen today many quite violent accidents.

“Jonathan just got very unlucky with his left foot being caught up in the bike and he’s broken some bones in the left foot.”