Jonathan Rea on WorldSBK injury: “I count my blessings that it was just a foot”

Jonathan Rea has spoken on the difficulty of the first weeks of his recovery from injury after crashing in WorldSBK preseason.

Alex Whitworth

03 Apr 2025

Jonathan Rea, 2024 WorldSBK Jerez Test. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose

Pata Yamaha WorldSBK rider Jonathan Rea says was fortunate that the crash that has seen him ruled out of the first two World Superbike races of the 2025 season only saw him injure his left foot.

The Northern Irish rider crashed at Phillip Island during preseason testing ahead of the opening round of the 2025 World Superbike Championship at the same venue, fracturing several bones in his left foot.

The injury rules him out of the Australian Round immediately and soon after he was out of round two in Portugal as well, where he was replaced by Yamaha WorldSBK test rider YART Yamaha Endurance World Championship rider Jason O’Halloran.

Rea’s return is still not confirmed for round three at Assen on 11–13 April, but he says he still counts himself as fortunate that the crash didn’t lead to more severe injuries.

“I have footage of the crash and it's horrible,” Rea said, speaking to BBC Sport NI.

“What seemed like a small little crash, all of a sudden I felt like I hit a wall or something. My bike had picked up momentum and had started flipping in the air and it came down and hit my foot quite aggressively.

“If that had been an upper limb or a chest or worse, I count my blessings that it was just a foot but you're also very unlucky as well because it's fine margins.”

The six-time World Superbike Champion added that the first weeks of his recovery were difficult both mentally and in terms of physical pain, while more recently he has been able to get back to some degree of training.

“It was really painful in the first couple of weeks, I have three plates, six screws,” he said.

“It was mentally tough too.

“I've got back to some sort of training regime, feeling good in myself but unfortunately the fracture to my foot was a lot more complicated than I thought.

“Displaced fractures, a ligament graft as well, and with it being a load-bearing part of your body it just needs time to heal, so I'm doing everything in my power to massage that healing process.”