Jonathan Rea is 'satisfied' after his first 2025 preseason test with Yamaha
11/28/2024 04:28 AM
Year one at Yamaha was underwhelming for Jonathan Rea, but after one test the 2025 season looks more positive.
After nine successful years with Kawasaki, Jonathan Rea made the unexpected move to Yamaha in 2024. However, the move from green to blue was not as successful as many expected.
The six-time World Superbike Champion had his first winless season since the 2006 British Superbike season. Throughout his debut year with Yamaha, Rea only stood on the podium once throughout the 36-race season.
Rea and Yamaha were absent from the post-season test at Jerez last month, but have been on track across the last two days. Coming into his first 2025 preseason test Rea had a new crew chief after parting ways with Andrew Pitt.
After the test, Rea was feeling positive ahead of his winter break before his next test in January.
'I'm happy because we were able to be fast'.
"I'm satisfied with the work that we've done over these two days," Rea said. "In the end, we have a lot of items to try this winter but during this test in particular it was important to work on my feeling with the R1 and regain some confidence in areas that I struggled with a bit this year.
"We focused on the front end of the bike, being able to stop and be more aggressive flicking the bike to the apex. Working with Uri as my Crew Chief for the first time was nice, the vibe in the team is good and he has slotted right in – so we were able to get to work quickly.
"We tried some different electronic items and fine-tuned our base set-up – the start point when we arrived was good so we were able to move through the programme efficiently. I'm happy because we were able to be fast on the Q tyre, race tyres and deliver consistency in the lap times, building my feeling again.
"Clocking off now for the winter, we'll be back in January to get really into the meat of the test plan. I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday period and say a massive thanks to the whole team and Yamaha – plus a warm welcome to my new mechanic Gregory Rebeyrat and "chapeau" to Uri for a great first 2025 test."
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