Jonathan Rea, the six-time winner of the FIM Superbike World Championship, has revealed the level of effort required to bid for victory in the FIM Endurance World Championship.
Northern Irishman Rea and English team-mates Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes finished second in the 43rd Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours, Japan’s hugely famous and demanding round of the EWC, earlier this month riding for the Kawasaki Racing Team.
Ad Having qualified second fastest, the #10 Kawasaki ZX-10RR led the race on lap nine, and from lap 29 to 30 during a gruelling race of attrition.
But an unfortunately timed safety car intervention and a fall for Rea while trying to pass two riders running further down the order cost vital time and restricted Kawasaki’s factory squad to the runner-up spot behind the winning Team HRC entry.