A fifth place for Jonathan Rea was not his best result of the season ou꧙tright, but Race 1 at the Estoril World Superbike round did see him match hಞis best result in a long race with the Yamaha R1 he hopped on for the first time this year.

It’s clearly not been the se𝔉ason Rea hoped for after switching to Yamaha from Kawasaki over the winter, but Estoril Race 1 nonetheless had reasons for positivity.

“A positive [race] to be fair,” Rea conclude💯d when speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 1 on Saturday.

“I’ve equalled my best long, dry race position with the Yamaha R1. So, positive. I gave everything, and only a couple of seconds fro𒆙m the podium, so we were close. But not close enough.”

Rea explained that the inconsistent weather throughou𒅌t🐼 practice meant that Race 1 was the first chance to gather significant data to use to improve.

“It’s the first time allꦬ weekend that we’ve got a lot of laps in a row in the dry,” he said, “so it’s good information to give back to the engi💯neers.

“[There are] some clear areas that we can impr⛎ove the package tomorrow, and if I can come out of tomorrow just taking everything from the package we have I’ll be happy.

“But, today, I didn’t feel perfect on the bike, so I exp🎶ect some positive steps tomorrow.

🍒“I’ve just come from the garage now, giving a really detailed explanation, so if we can transform that I’ll be optimistic tomorrow.”

Rea c꧅ontinued, explaining the specific areas where he and Yamaha can improve performance.

“Just right on the edge of the tyre and initial acceleratio🃏n,” he said.

“I feel mechanical traction we nꦍeed to really improve. The bike’s stopping well, turning ver♒y well.

“The chassis is working good, even that long last corner I felt was one of my strongest areꦡas of the track, but as soon as I start to pick up the bike, we’re just having a lot of wheelspin.

“We pay a little bit of the bill on acceleration then, because if you start that initial pick-up phase and you’re not really pushingꦿ that tyre into the ground, we’re losing forward momentum.

“So, I expect to make a step forwa🌳rd there tomorrow. Also, of course, with the weather yesterday꧃ it was difficult to make a race setup, let’s say.

“From an electronics point of view, the engineers can fine tune — just a bit of massaging here, there; engine brake, torque, and traction control, and we♋ should have a step.”

Estoril Race 1 was Rea’s fourth with😼 the new-spec, aerodynamically modified Yamaha R1 introduced at the Italian Round three weeks ago, bu🍃t the first where he was fighting inside the top five positions.

He said that, while there are positive points about the new bike, it’s difficult to compare with the previous version due to a lac🅺k of “back-to-back testing”.

“It’s difficult to compare, because when we hoꦺmologated the 2025 bike, we raced ꧃it,” he said.

“There was no back-to-back testing to understand how the bike worked, anജd [it’s] only in those test days when you confirm items then double-check that you can really feel a difference.

“For me, I feel like it creates a lot more downforce on the bike, the bike wheelies less, and that potentially gives us more ཧscope to put more torque ✨on the exit of the corners.

“So, definitely a real positive fo🌊r performance, but we still have to maximise the chassis with them, as well.”