Jonathan Rea: “The tide has to change; we’ve had a lot of issues thrown our way”
“Now, if something’s not right or not there or the stars are𒁃n’t aligning, you’re on the struggle bus," says Jonathan Rea
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jonathan Rea’s frustrating weekend in Barcelona concluded with P8 in Race 2 at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:WorldSBK second round.
The Y♏amaha rider “fried the clutch” on the starting line of Race 1 and retired without completing a single lap, but fared better on Sunday.
Rea was P13 in the Superpole race after a Lap 1 incident ༒where he was squeezed off-track.
Impressively, in Race 2 on Sunday after𝓰noon, Rea made up four positions within the first lap after startinꦛg from the fifth row.
He settled for eighth, and reacted: “Overall, i🐈t’s been a very disappointing weekend.
“Like the trend of Phillip 🍌Island, we have made progress even if it might not look like that.
“We♛’ve taken our✤ first points of the season in Race 2. Race 2 was a problem-free race without issues.
🌞“I struggled starting from P13 because you don’t have track position and you have to be a bit more aggressive in the﷽ beginning.
“Then, after that, I🅰’d already wasted some tyre and then tried to conserve as much as possible.
“Guys like Remy Gardnꦯer, Danilo Petrucci and Michael van der Mark and Alex, I though🌱t they’d come back to me at the end.
“They dropped their paceꦰ a ওlittle bit but not enough. I was catching but I ran out of laps.
“There are some🌠 positives in there; it’s not wher🍸e we want to be right now but we’ll move onto Assen and try and have an open mind with what could happen there.
“The tide has to change; we’ve had a lot of issues thrown our way and we’re 💎dealing with them in a really good way as a team by trying to breathe and turn the page.”
Rea🐻’s Pata Prometeon Yamaha teammate Andrea Lo⛄catelli crashed out of Race 2 on the first lap.
Sunday in Barcelona belonged to Toprak Razgatlioglu (Superpole winner) and Alvaro Bautista (𓂃Ra🅺ce 2 winner).
Ex-Kawasaki legend Rea has 𝕴not been, so f🌳ar, among the frontrunners in 2024.
“You don’t have to be too far off the pace now to be fighting outside the top ten and I don’t have that ultimate pace on th🥃e bike yet,” he said.
“I’m still finding my feet and trying to understan♏d the bike.
“I’m really pushing the team to give me what I need to 🐼be fast. It’s taking time but I’m sure it will arrive.
“I really believe in the people around me so there’s a lot of credit to them; they deserve this as much as I do. We’l✅l keep with it, not give up and Assen is a happy hunting ground for me so there’s no better place to go next to try and sc𒉰ore some big points.
“You have to take these small wins; we’re not fightin💖g for the podium, that’s always the target.
“The class is stacked; last year, you c🅘ould be a little bit off and fight easily in the top ten.
“Now, if something’s not righ🙈t or not there or the stars aren’t aligning, you’re on th🃏e struggle bus.
“We need to maximise our weekends and try and stay out of trouble. Superpole i﷽s ♎super important; I messed up my lap so I have to shoulder some of that but we probably didn’t prepare in the right way either with Free Practice 3 being tough.
“When you start from thไe fifth row, your race is almost written on the wall.
🥃“Assen’s focus will be getting a bike that I can race with well but also starting further up the grid. We can’t force the wave to come but when it does, I’m sure we’ll ride it well.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a deca♏de covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
