Jonathan Rea recovery “going incredibly well”, set for trackside return this weekend

Pata Yamaha team boss Paul Denning has given some insight into Jonathan Rea’s continuing recovery from injury.

Rea broke several bones in his left foot during testing ahead of the opening round of this year’s World Superbike season, forcing him out of at least the first two rounds of the series.

The six-time WorldSBK Champion’s recovery is progressing well, according to Denning, and the team is expecting Rea to join them on Sunday at this weekend’s Portuguese Round.

“It’s going incredibly well considering the extent of the injuries,” Denning said of Rea’s recovery when speaking to WorldSBK.com during FP1 in Portimao.

“He’s [Rea] throwing everything at it and he’ll be here on Sunday to rejoin the team and that’s another mark of his commitment and his enthusiasm to support the team and to be back here.

“But it’s tough because it’s a pretty extensive amount of damage to his foot and the human body can only heal as quickly as it’ll heal – whatever you throw at it.

“But as well as could possibly be expected and more. He can’t really weight-bear on the foot but he’s able to train aerobically now, and upper-body strength.

“He’s keeping everything bang on in terms of his fitness and preparation. We couldn’t ask for more from him in terms of trying to come back as soon as he can.”

Rea is being replaced this weekend by Jason O’Halloran. Originally, Augusto Fernandez was supposed to be riding in Portugal and even tested the Pata Yamaha R1 at the recent two-day test in Portimao, but has been called up to the Pramac Yamaha MotoGP team to replace Miguel Oliveira in Texas this weekend instead.

O’Halloran hadn’t ridden the WorldSBK-spec R1 before FP1 on Friday morning in Portimao, which he finished slowest of the 22 riders who set a time and almost five seconds off the pace at a circuit he hasn’t visited since 2019.

Denning said that O’Halloran’s call up to the WorldSBK team was a part of a series of “unfortunate circumstances” for the Pata Yamaha squad, but suggested that this weekend will at least be of benefit to the Australian if he’s needed to replace Rea again at the next round in Assen on 11-14 April – a possibility given that Rea’s return date is still unconfirmed.

“We’ve got so unlucky, first of all with the accident and injury to Jonathan which set us back after such a positive winter with him and [...] a real opportunity to get back to the front and challenging for podiums and victories,” Denning said.

“Then, of course, we had the upside – if you can find one – of having Augusto [Fernandez] available to us, who tested really well here and is a super-high-quality rider.

“Having him dragged back to his day job in MotoGP [left] us with Jason, who is a very capable guy, [but] missed the two-day test so he’s on the back foot.

“So it’s been a run of unfortunate circumstances, really, starting with [Rea’s] crash in Phillip Island; so the idea here is to get Jason as comfortable as we can to represent the team and himself as well as we can, and then if we need him in Assen he’s in a better place to go better there.”