Jonathan Rea reunited with familiar face as 2024 Yamaha crew chief is confirmed

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Six-time WorldSBK champion Rea is leaving Kawasaki and will begin a new adventure with Yamaha, starting next week at a postseason test.

Toprak Razgatlıoglu is leaving Yamaha to go to BMW, and will take his current crew chief Phil Marron with him.

Rea’s current crew chief at Kawasaki,  Pere Riba, is staying put despite the rider’s high-profile move.

That left Rea requiring a new crew chief at his new team - and fortunately the perfect candidate was already on the other side of the box.

Pitt is currently Andrea Locatelli’s crew chief but it has been confirmed by Yamaha that, next season, he will instead work with Rea.

Locatelli now needs a new crew chief - Yamaha say they’ve got somebody lined up, but haven’t confirmed who it is.

Rea and Pitt were teammates at Hanspree Ten Kate Honda in 2008 in WorldSSP.

Yamaha Team Principal Paul Denning said: “I can confirm that Andrew will come across to work with Jonathan. 

“They’ve got a very close relationship that goes back many, many years. 

“They’ve been teammates before but when Andrew was a rider, not a crew chief. 

“On top of that, we’ve got a very, very exciting crew chief coming to join the team to strengthen the whole project, who will work with ‘Loka’. That’ll be announced towards the end of November.”