WorldSBK Catalunya: ‘Bautista in a different race’ - Rea

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea left his team’s home WorldSBK round with two podiums from three races at Barcelona.

When Rea looked at Catalunya he saw one of those tracks that was maybe going to be a bit tricky for his KRT squad, despite a very good hot weather test there in the summer. When he looked at the tyre wear issues that Montmeló usually throws up to all, he had something else to think of in detail. But in all the three races at Catalunya he finally attended two podium ceremonies as runner-up, and then only a late false neutral left him out of the fight for some kind of podium place in Sunday’s long race two.

Rea’s final race day was difficult despite his measurably good results, yet it was hard work for his mechanics again.

“Constantly changed,” said Rea. “We changed the chassis setup a little bit to try to conserve the rear tyre. I felt this morning in warm-up wasn’t a step forward, so we went back to the race, but with small setup changes just in the front forks like the suspension setup, not to stress the front tyre. Also we tried to get the weight into the rear and I could finish the corner better.

“The Superpole race went as planned,” he explained. “I got an incredible start, one of the best starts of the season for me, which has been a tough area. That changed the dynamic of my race because I was in good track position straight away.

“Alex’s pace was amazing in the Superpole race,” he said of teammate Lowes. “So, I was just there. I could see after ten laps that I still had good tyre even compared to Alvaro [Bautista], so I was quite optimistic going into the long race. Then, of course the temperature was almost ten degrees hotter in race two, eight degrees hotter than yesterday. So, I expected a tough race, but