Rea: I don’t really care about racing amid coronavirus

Reigning World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea says he doesn’t care about fighting for another title during the coronavirus pandemic and while he concedes he misses racing he accepts it’s “not that important right now”.

The five-time World Superbike champion has joined the rest of the motorsport community in halting all racing amid the coronavirus crisis and isn’t worried about returning to action until the global health situation improves.

Rea, who is at home with his young family, has effectively swapped being a professional racer to become a teacher to his two young sons while also working on his own YouTube channel to provide light relief to his fans.

The current World Superbike calendar states a return to action at Assen on April 17-19 but that looks very unlikely given the lockdown measures in place across Europe for the coming weeks. World Superbike organisers Dorna are currently working on a revised 2020 race calendar which will be announced imminently.

“I don’t really care [about the championship] - I care about people getting healthy again and relieving stress on hospitals,” Rea told BBC Sport.

“What’s important is we get a handle on it and supporting each other. It’s really strange, we should race in Assen and that hasn’t been officially postponed yet but I think they are trying to rapidly match the calendar together.”

While Rea’s 2020 plans have been disrupted he acknowledges it is “such a small part of the bigger problem” and fully supports the measures taken to fight the coronavirus from spreading further.

“What’s clear is that this virus isn’t under control so world travel is compromised and that means sport is compromised, but in reality it’s such a small part of the bigger problem.

“I’m sure we’ll be at a standstill for the next 8-12 weeks and maybe into July we may start thinking about a calendar.

“What’s clear is that the organisers really want to get a championship finished and it may not be the full 13-round series that they set out for, but they are trying their best to get it done.

“I’m chomping at the bit to get back on my bike, I really miss it, I miss my team - I miss everybody. But that's not important right now.”