Jonath🧔an Rea ꦗhas a chance to kickstart his 2024 WorldSBK campaign in a big way this weekend at Assen.

Completely lost in Phillip Island, steps forward were made by Rea ꧙and Yamaha in Catalunya.💮 

• Ducati hit back at Yamaha over Bautista ciritisicm: ‘They hav🍷e 🐠bigger problems’ 

• Andrea Iannone pushes for factory ride: ‘I have interest from many manufactu♛rers’ 

However, this weekend should s𒆙ee that happen once again as the six-time world champion𒆙 holds a stunning record of 17 wins around the Dutch circuit.

Part of Rea’s adaptation to Y♔amaha includes working with a new crew chief in the form of former team-mate Andrew Pitt.

Discussing the biggest challenges with his switch from Kawasaki to the R1, Rea said:  “It’s hard to answer. Just getting familiar with a completely new crew, understanding how they work and them understanding 🎐how I work. It’s step by step.

“I really believe in everyone inside Yamaha. They’re great people, intelligent people. I had a relationship with my previous crew chief that spanned nine y🐻ears.

“Ther🧸e were growing pains in that relationship as well. There were times 🃏it wasn’t great but generally, for example, if you said ‘left’, with that kind of relationship, they telepathically knew how far left.

“With a completely new crew that’s worked with different riders, it’s very hard for them to understand me꧅ without words. 

“In the previous rounds, I spent a long time in the pit box trying to explain my feelings clearly. That’s als🌠o new for me, and that can also be a big problem; a rider talking too much as you can create more and more problems from a technical point of view. 

“It’s just step by step. I think that situation coupled with a few issues we’ve faced, and difficulties, the challenges of Phill🍒ip Island and crashes, it’s been tough to put everything together, but I do feel like it’s going to come.”

While the relationship🎀 with Pitt is a good one, Rea is coming from a partnership with P✃ere Riba that won six titles together.

But success 💛aside, the two share similarities which Rea feels is a good thing: “They’re more similar than 𝔍you can imagine, to be honest. Both are very clever.

“I was going to say Andrew’s worth ethic is incredible and he’s so busy and ruthlessly competitive, always trying to find something, and he💜’s pushing all the crew to do their best.

“Andrew’s pushing the electroni🍃cs department, the chaಞssis department, to improve, but Pere was the same.

“ꦦThe biggest d𝓀ifference is I worked with Pere for nine seasons and sometimes I didn’t have to speak.

“When you look at the rider market, for example, Toprak went the ot꧋her way but took his crew chief, but they then have to learn another bike.

“Would it have been an advantage to have Pere by my side now? Not sure. Maybe from communication and understanding me, butꦓ he doesn’t understand the R1.

“There’s pros and cons to everyt🙈hing. The relationship with Andrew is really good. I trust him and trust in Yamaha that it’s going to 🃏come good.

“Been a difficult start, to be honest. We have to have some faith. Keep my head up and hope🌺fully we can get back to some normality here.”