"Far and away our best weekend"- Rea left feeling positive after Estoril
10/14/2024 06:42 AM
Yamaha and Jonathan Rea had their best weekend of the 2024 season at the penultimate round of the season.
Jonathan Rea's move to Pata Prometeon Yamaha has not gone as smoothly as many would have imagined. The Northern Irishman was 14th in the World Superbike Championship heading into the penultimate round at Estoril.
However, Rea finally showed signs of promise at the Portuguese circuit. On Saturday Rea used his wet weather expertise and qualified on the front row of the grid for the first time since Assen. In the opening race of the weekend, Rea went on to finish in fifth place.
However, the six-time World Superbike Champions Sunday did not start the way he would have hoped. In the Superpole Race, Rea crashed out of the top ten and ended up finishing in 22nd place. The final race of the weekend saw Rea right his wrongs as he came from 10th on the grid to fourth place at the finish line.
When asked whether it was the best weekend of the year, Rea said: "Yeah, 100%. Unfortunately, I didn't start my morning great which meant I started Race 2 from tenth. That didn't really matter because I made such a good start.
"The 0-200km/h stage was good, and I found myself in good track position at Turn 1. Iker (Lecuona) came past quite early, there was the front group, then Iker, Loka (Andrea Locatelli) and me. The rhythm was very similar, and those guys went down, suddenly I found myself on my own. I was so nervous!
"From that point, I just tried to do my rhythm. I felt like I was riding on the limit, so I just backed off a little bit, it was a long race, so it was just about not making any mistakes, understanding all the sensations from my Yamaha R1 and pushing it to the limit without making any mistakes. 5th-4th for the weekend, it's far and away our best weekend.
"Something to build on but the gap to the front is still quite big but if we forget about that and look at the progress I've made, the team's made, in the last few rounds since coming back from injury. Aragon was a tough one. To rebound here with some positivity, it's been solid."
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