Official: Rea signs contract extension with Kawasaki until end of 2024

After signing a new two-year deal that expires at the end of the 2024 season, Rea will take his tenure with Kawasaki up to 10 years as he attempts to bring the WorldSBK championship back to the Japanese manufacturer. 

Currently second in the standings to Alvaro Bautista, Rea has been as impressive as ever through the opening five rounds, suggesting plenty is yet to come from the 35 year-old.

"I am really happy and excited to renew my contract with Kawasaki, to roll on for another two more years," said Rea. "It has been an incredible partnership, we have enjoyed so much success together that it is almost a natural progression. 

"There was not much negotiation needed to continue together from both sides. It was more a case of how much more motivation I had to keep racing at the highest level in the WorldSBK championship. 

"It has been an incredible few seasons; more competitive than ever. I have realised how motivated I am to continue and to continue fighting to win. Kawasaki gave me the opportunity back in 2015 to realise a childhood dream when I won the WorldSBK championship in the first year together. 

"As a partnership we are so solid, and I am looking forward to continue making memories and representing an incredible manufacturer and brand. My team is my racing family. I love everyone inside the team like my own family and relationships like that count for a lot in racing. 

"Huge credit goes to every single person in the staff, from Provec Racing, all the engineers in Japan, and everyone in the Kawasaki family. I am excited to see what we can do over the next two seasons."

Prior to signing his new deal with Kawasaki, rumours of Ducati being interested in signing Rea - not for the first time that’s happened - were loosely floated around.

But with Bautista and Aruba.it Ducati staying together for another season and reigning world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu also remaining at Yamaha until the end of 2023, options were therefore very limited for the Superbike legend.  

‘A lot of dancing left to be done’ as Rea has eyes on creating more success - Roda

"Since we signed Johnny for the 2015 season, and until now, we have written a nice part of WorldSBK’s history," added Guim Roda, Team Manager of KRT. 

"We are so proud to be part of this Rea success story, which also means Kawasaki's success story. It’s been eight seasons together now, and Johnny has been performing at the maximum, always. 

"Nowadays, and at the age of 35, he is in his best shape, and we know there's still a lot of dancing left to be done. We have been working hard to define, with KMC, which kind of project we could create for Johnny to allow him to keep pushing at 110%. 

"I think we gave him the motivation he needed to go for it for two years more. We can never rest on the laurels of our successful past, so we will have a hard job to cover JR’s expectations. We are ready for that. We guarantee it will be a real show for at least two more years…"