WorldSBK Phillip Island Test: ‘Bautista’s in a different league’ - Rea

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea is predicting another tough battle as WorldSBK gears up for the 2023 season opener at Phillip Island.

With pre-season testing in the bag, and another top four finish from the Northern Irishman after 97 laps on Tuesday concluded with a personal best of 1’30.716, Rea knows the man at the top is the one to beat once again as the action awaits in Australia.

“I think we can fight for the podium,” Rea confirmed of his round one prospects. “I really feel like we can be in the best of the rest fight.

“I think Alvaro is clearly in a different league. He’s gonna be in a different race already.

“He has such an advantage here. He’s doing a really good job. He’s riding the bike well, bike’s working well and he’s clearly at one but I think we can be fighting for the best of the rest.

“Our bikes were quite different today,” he said of his final day’s testing schedule. “We were trying a ‘22 bike versus a ‘23 bike in the afternoon and there’s positives and negatives of both but I prefer to stick with a ’23. Unfortunately was when I was doing a race simulation, at lap 14 I got caught out in T4. It was very gusty and it’s coming strong from the back, from the sea. And just on my limit as well. I was pushing, clearly. A very slow crash, quite different to yesterday - I was quite a way round the corner as I started to release the brake.

“But really positive sensations during that run. I was able to, after 13/14 laps, to stay in ‘31’s which for me was where I need to be to fight for the podium. Then after that, we evaluated the SC0 rear tyre. Pirelli asked me to make a longer run to understand for the Superpole race how that tyre performs and again, the tyre performance is good.

“From an electronic point of view, I’m