Rea: “We deserved more than third”, Race 2 “I struggled so bad”

The six-time WorldSBK champion was competitive at the beginning of all three races, including the Superpole Race where he led every lap except the last.

A late lunge from Toprak Razgatlioglu on the penultimate lap handed the Yamaha rider the advantage, before Rea, who was lining up an attempt at retaking the lead with just a few corners to go, was passed by Alvaro Bautista at turn nine.

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It meant Rea’s best chance at a win so far in 2023 went begging, before his weakest race of the three took place.

Rea was on the pace of Bautista and Razgatlioglu early on, but when the Ducati rider came through for second, Rea quickly lost a heap of time.

Rea was then passed late on by both Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding, as he finished fifth ahead of teammate Alex Lowes.

Speaking about his Sunday at Donington Park, Rea said: "I would have been a bit happier if the results were reversed. It’s always nice to finish the weekend with a solid race. 

"But starting with the positives; I felt amazing this morning for the ten laps and was maximum attack. I knew I had to get to the front early and so I passed Alvaro into turn one, on the inside. Then I went as fast as I could go. 

"The penultimate lap, maybe I left a bit out there and made a few mistakes. Toprak made a lunge at the Melbourne Loop because I got into the chicane a little bit too fast. 

"Then, I was thinking of taking my time into the chicane to set Toprak up, but Alvaro popped his nose in and parked it on the apex. I think we deserved a bit more than third. 

"Then the second, I struggled from the beginning with rear tyre traction. I could see early on that I was struggling on the edge of the tyre. 

"When Alvaro came past at mid-race distance I just struggled so bad. Even the left side of the tyre which we don’t use that much - through Schwantz - it was like it had so much pressure on the rear and was just spinning and spinning."

In terms of his expectations heading into the weekend, Rea was not optimistic about challenging for the win, which he did.

So in that regard the Northern Irishman was pleased: "I expected to fight for the podium. I didn’t expect to fight for a win, so you gotta say that for the Superpole Race we exceeded my expectations. 

"But then the last race, I should have been closer to the race winning time. So it was a little bit of a mixed bag. I go home satisfied but I think we could have had a bit more out of it."