Jonathan Rea says he has delivered his “best weekend” at Estoril for Yamaha WorldSBK but admitted that it has “taken a lot longer” to adapt to the bike.
The six-time champion fancied a change after a nine-year stint with Kawasaki to join Yamaha for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
It has been a challenging year adjusting to the Japanese marque, with the Northern Irishman managing just one podium finish, which came in the Superpole race at his home race weekend at Donington Park.
Rea capped off the recent Estoril round with two top-five finishes in Race 1 and Race 2, his best performances in the longer format.
“5-4 for the weekend, it’s by far and away our best weekend, and something to build on for sure,” he said.
“The gap to the front is still quite big, but if we forget about that and look at the progress I’ve made and the team’s made in these last few rounds — coming back from injury in Aragon was a tough one, so to rebound here with some positivity, it’s been solid.
“Our bike, we know its weaknesses, but we know it’s strengths, and it’s about trying to exploit the best of the Yamaha R1,” he said.
“Honestly, I’m still getting there, understanding how to get the best out of the bike with fresh tyres. I think slowly but surely we’re getting there.
“But, hopefully, if I’m there and capitalise and can start trusting the bike on the limit, I can get that track position and be less vulnerable to passes.
“I want to arrive tomorrow, but it really is step-by-step, it’s taken a lot longer than I expected to understand everything.
“I have reason to be optimistic, we can’t give up on this. Especially, at the end of the season, we’re just starting to see some fruits of all our labour.”
Jonathan Rea’s confident despite Superpole Race struggles
Rea didn’t take a knock in confidence despite a crash during the Superpole Race.
Despite remounting onto his Yamaha, he finished a distant 22nd place.
“About half distance I went into the chicane, and just as I changed direction I had some chatter and just chattered off the edge of the tyre,” Rea told WorldSBK.com.
“I was pushing, of course, as well, pushing on the limit. I really tried to save it.
“It caused no damage to the bike or my leathers, it was completely on my elbow and my knee, and I tried to actually dig the front tyre in to hopefully pick me up, but it wasn’t coming around.
“Fortunately, there wasn’t anyone behind me or in my path.
“I was able to remount, and I actually posted my fastest lap of the race after that and when I wasn’t in traffic, so that gave me some confidence that, at least with the long race and with the race tyre, that I could do a solid enough job.”
His crash on Sunday morning meant he started 10th for Race 2, but he delivered his best weekend result when it mattered.
“But the class is stacked right now, so you have to really take benefit of track position and do a really solid race just to have something to shout about at the end.”
“Unfortunately, just didn’t start my morning great, so that meant I started 10th,” he said, “but that didn’t really matter because I made such a good start.
“That 0-200kph was good, and I found myself in good track position for turn one.
“Iker [Lecuona] came past quite early, so there was the front group, and then Loka [Andrea Locatelli], Iker, and me.
“The rhythm was very similar, and then both those guys went down and suddenly I found myself all on my own and I was so nervous.
“From that point, I just tried to do my rhythm — it felt like I’d been riding on the limit, so I just backed off that little bit, but it was a long race, so it was just about trying not to make any mistakes.”
