WorldSBK Estoril: ‘It’s what I had to do to get the race done’ - Rea

Jonathan Rea’s desire to win WorldSBK races was shown not just by being able to pass his two biggest rivals for both race victories on Sunday at Estoril, but by setting the fastest lap of the final race just one lap from the finale to catch his eventual prey, Alvaro Bautista.

Said Rea of that race win, when he block passed Bautista into the final chicane with a just a few corners to go, “The penultimate lap, I was quite strong. I was able to recover everything. Then going on to the last lap, I just got really good traction from the last corner. I used the slip stream for the first part of the straight. I said, ‘okay, just brake, don’t mess up.’

“The previous three laps Alvaro was missing the apex in one a little bit, so I was able just to stop, hoop the corner. Already by T3 I was right there. I thought, just focus on four, because he was braking early in T6, very early. When I seen how fast he was between four, five and into six, I thought, ‘no way’. But, I released the brake, used corner speed, and picked the bike up. Honestly, the traction I had was really good. I was able to drive close and thought, this is my first chance, and go. I had two or three opportunities. There, the chicane where eventually I passed, or also on the cutback in the last corner. I felt like I had enough edge grip that I could go inside, and just hold him up a little bit. But I felt that the earlier in the lap I could do it, the more I could gain in track time before the long straight. So, I tried T7. He cut back and I parked it in the apex in the chicane. Just stopped him a little bit from dropping on top of me. Then I did my line and tried to make a good exit. I thought I fucked it, to be honest.

“On the last corner, I had such a big slide!