After a very difficult start to the WSBK season in Phillip Island, Jonathan Rea was not gentle in his comments regarding Yamaha and said he wasn’t even allowed to say what he thought. Now, after finishing fifth on the first day of testing in Barcelona, the British rider felt much more ‘normal,’ saying that everything was resolved.
‘From the first lap, the bike felt more normal, more like we had tested during the winter. The guys went back to Milan after Australia to analyze all our issues and problems we’ve been having. We arrived here and sorted all that out,’ Rea began by saying, as quoted on the championship’s official website, but there is still a lot of work to do, stating that, in a way, he felt like he was starting from scratch:
– We still have some things to work on, but now it feels like a normal test. We can continue to work round and round. Phillip Island was a very bad start. Mentally, we had a bit of a reset and started from scratch, but also some changes to the bike with a stronger base. I felt quite good with the bike. I feel good, but I’m not talking about 100%; we have to work on some areas.
And he continued: ‘An area I want to focus on with the bike is trying to have more traction at the rear. This doesn’t just come from a shock absorber or rear suspension, it’s a combination of linkage, swingarm, bike character… it’s really difficult to identify where to improve that. There are no complaints, for sure. They are working in a very good way’.
