WorldSBK Estoril: ‘I just didn’t have the bike’ - Rea

Having fought all the way for a WorldSBK win at Estoril it came down to a rise in track temperature and thus rear end control under braking that held Jonathan Rea back in third place at the flag.

It was such an entertaining and one highly tactile fight between eventual second place rider Toprak Razgatlioglu and Rea that it was a shame neither won. Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista came through on Rea after a mistake under braking, with superior pace and a much superior top end in the last six laps. He would then pass Yamaha’s Razgatlioglu on the straight, much to the Turk’s dismay.

Rea’s expectation that the track temperature would not ride to well over 30°C did not materialise into reality so he had to accept his fate once Bautista went past.

“I just didn’t have the bike in the last laps,” said Rea. “The bike was moving a lot, losing traction, especially entry traction. I couldn’t stop the same as I could in the beginning. Of course, with the harder rear tyre, the tyre drops. It’s just an offset. The softer tyre is faster, but it drops. The harder tyre is a bit slower, but it stays consistent. This tyre dropped a little bit. I think the temperature crept up into the 30s. We were expecting it to stay around 28 degrees, something like that. Just across that border.

“I was happy to be there in the first ten laps. I felt faster than Toprak at that point in the race, but from midpoint, I made a mistake in T1 with my braking.

“The lever came right back to the handlebar. I couldn’t make any more pressure. So, I was jumping on the back brake just to stop. I went wide, and then Alvaro came through. I thought with Alvaro maybe he can take me to Toprak again, but I didn’t have the package today to fight with him. Happy with the points.