OPENING DAY OF ACTION UNDERWAY FOR REA 

Jonathan Rea took the first steps into the final round of the 2023 WorldSBK championship at Circuito de Jerez today finishing just outside the top ten in 13th place on the first day’s combined timesheets, .

Overnight rain left the track surface cold and slippery ahead of the FP1 session. Conditions were not wet enough to evaluate a full wet tyre and conversely not dry enough to gain any meaningful information for the set up of his Ninja ZX-10RR race machine. Rea, and Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes, therefore sat out the first practice session of the day.

The weather and track conditions improved in the afternoon but were still not at their best. Rea and the team will now look to the 30 minute FP3 session tomorrow to finalise set up ahead of Superpole Qualifying and WorldSBK race one.

Jonathan Rea said: “It was a disappointing day because this morning it was too wet for anything meaningful but not enough for full wet-weather testing, so we spent the first session in the pit box. In the afternoon I had no feeling from the bike straight away, no rear traction. We came in thinking we had a problem with the tyre, so we changed that, but we still had the same problem. The bike was not accelerating like normal, which is really strange. The guys are going to have a look now to understand it. I am not sure if it is the grip level of the circuit because the bike is the same as before, the set-up is the same, the electronics are the same - so there is work to do.”