WorldSBK Imola: Jonathan Rea: “I felt better with more laps on the tyre”, still “on the limit”
Calling it ‘probably the best weekend of our season’, Rea was a conteꦡnder in both feature length races until the closing stages.
Yes, the ZX-10RR was still missing performance which held Rea back, but he was closer to the race-winning time compared to 𝔉a lot of racไes so far in 2023.
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"It was a solid weekend, probably the best weekend of our season so far," Rea🌃 told WorldSBK.com. "I’m really happy. Trying to keep this momentum now by fighting at the front. We knew Imola would be a stronger circuit for us, but nobody told us that on Friday!
"On Friday, it was a d♍ifficult day and even Saturday morning, I didn’t seem to have that out and out pace or rhythm.
"During the races, I felt better with more laps on the tyre and, unfortunately, at the end of the races here in this extreme heat, I was struggling a little but with the SC1 front tyre, it was movღing.
"When you’re on the limit and the front tyre’s mov⛄ing, it’s more about consolidating your position, trying not to make any mistakes.
"I didn’t make any mista🌺kes, worked quite well with the team and we stuck to our guns with our rear tyre choice for Race 2. We came away with a bag-load of points."
Stronger than Andrea Locatelli over the full round, Rea again took more points out of the Yamaha rider in their battle for third ♔in the championship.
Unhap𓆏py with ho🦩w he ended the Donington Park round, Rea felt as though he got the most out of Race 2 in Imola and has momentum heading into Most.
Rea added: "When you finish the weekend on a good note, it’s always nice because thꦉat’s the last thought that you take into the next ꦫround.
"It was nice to stand on the podium at Imola with a lot of my fans here. I’ve never ridden for an Italian manufacturer, and I d𓂃oဣn’t speak Italian, but we have a great relationship with the fans here.
"Maybe it’s from my ear🎃ly days of riding. I want to thank them becau💞se they gave me a lot of power to not give up, keep working hard and we deserved our podium today."
