Jonathan Rea Ready For WorldSBK Restart

After an enforced absence from track action Jonathan Rea and the official Kawasaki Racing Team will get its intense schedule of tests and races underway this week with a two-day test session at the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast of Italy, on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th June.

 

This test will be unlike any other due to the ongoing pandemic. Jonathan along with all the team members have undergone health tests in relation to COVID-19 and will be checked during the period of track testing. For the entire duration team staff will be practicing social distancing and putting in place numerous anti-viral protocols such as facemasks, frequent hand sanitation and adhering to demarked working zones.

 

Getting to Misano was in itself no easy task and Jonathan travelled from his home in Northern Ireland in a small panel van he normally uses to transport his motocross bikes. He and his family will stay in a house rather than a hotel close to the circuit itself for the duration of the test.

 

After two days at Misano the team will relocate back to Spain for another two day test at a circuit all new to WorldSBK racing – Montmelo – just a stone’s throw from the team’s headquarters in Granollers. With one full WorldSBK round already completed in Australia in early March the season restarts at four Iberian circuits – Jerez, Portimao, Aragon (twice) and then Montmelo - in what will be a busy period for all involved in the exciting 2020 WorldSBK championship fight. The season is set to restart for real at Jerez, with racedays scheduled for Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd August.

 

Jonathan Rea, stated: “I am super-excited to get back on the bike - not just to ride again but to see all the team and simply enjoy the working together. I missed that during lockdown. I think this is probably the longest period I have been off the bike! Misano is a great track to get back into the swing of things at. I know our ZX-10RR very well and I know Misano well too. We will have four hot races at the beginning of the re-started season this summer, in Spain and Portugal, so it is perfect to come and test at Misano at this time, as the weather should be similar. The track itself at Misano has a bit of everything – fast corners, both fast and slow changes of direction, and some stop-and-go corners. Because of the lockdown and the quarantine restrictions in the UK I have driven here to Italy in my MX van. I am in here with my bikes, my training gear - pretty much my life is in a van at the minute! I am excited by the journey and getting to test again. It should be a great two days if we keep on working, because we were one of the strongest in Australia. It is really nice to go into this test on the back of securing my future with KRT beyond this season as well. The atmosphere should be pretty nice and we can focus on this year completely. It was great for the team to have been able to get us to this test despite the global situation and I am grateful to Dorna and the circuits for working out the new calendar for us. I cannot wait for the lights to go out on the grid at Jerez on the 1st of August. I will be ready.”