Kawasaki: Rea ‘working more than ever’, team looking for ‘small details’

Jonathan Rea might have six WorldSBK titles to his name already, but according to KRT Team Manager Guim Roda, the Northern Irishman is working harder than ever ahead of the 2022 season. 

Rea, who lost his status as WorldSBK champion to Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu last season, also saw the number one plate leave his garage for the first time since 2016. 

Rea is the most successful WorldSBK rider in terms of titles, wins, podiums and points finishes - only record he doesn’t hold is most pole positions which is in favour of Tom Sykes - but the soon to be 15-year WorldSBK veteran will need a more consistent 2022 season if he’s to get the better of Razgatlioglu. 

To do that, a step forward in performance from his ZX10-RR machine will be needed as Rea appeared to be on the limit much more than rivals Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding. 

Rea is set to take part in his first official pre-season test tomorrow and Thursday, while team-mate Alex Lowes and fellow Kawasaki rider Lucas Mahais will also be in action for the Japanese manufacturer. 

With engine development frozen for the 2022 season, small improvements are what’s likely to make the difference this season, which is precisely what KRT are aiming to find during four of the five tests they will attend.

Speaking ahead of the Jerez test, Roda said: "The forthcoming Jerez test is the first track experience of the new year. After a long winter we all have a big motivation to start our engines and go into race mode. 

"After last December’s test KMC has been working with the inputs we gave them. We have been polishing some points to check how competitive we can be compared to 2021. 

"Alex has had time to recover quite well and Johnny is working more than ever to start stronger in the 2022 season. 

"We need to define many small details that we need to make some upgrades on the final race package of the Ninja ZX-10RR in 2022. Let's see how it goes at this test."