Jonathan Rea DNF in Catalunya Race 1 after “error on the grid”

Jonathan Rea did not finish - and was barely able to begin - Race 1 in Catalunya on Saturday after an “error on the grid”.

The second round of the 2024 World Superbikes season got off to a terrible start for Rea, whose adjustment to Yamaha has been slow so far.

Rea was a disappointing 13th in the Superpole race, but in Race 1 he burnt out his clutch at the start, leaving him no option but to retire before a lap was completed.

• 2024 World Superbike Catalunya - Race (1) Results

“Following a successful test aboard the R1 here last week, and after making significant progress during Free Practice yesterday, I was quietly confident about fighting for a good result in the race today,” Rea reacted.

“Qualifying didn’t go quite according to plan, but the longer runs yesterday where we focused on tyre conservation for the race meant a strong result was possible today.

“Unfortunately, I fried the clutch off the start and didn’t even manage to complete a lap.

“I’m sorry for the team, who worked incredibly hard in the run up to this race only for it to end on the first lap.

“But now we will put this behind us and focus on tomorrow, where we need a strong performance in the Superpole Race to ensure a good grid position for Race 2.”

Pata Prometeon Yamaha team principal Paul Denning added: “Unfortunately, JR’s error on the grid meant that he was unable to at least mirror Loka’s performance which we are sure he could have done – and it would have been great to have 20 laps worth of invaluable data.

“It’s a tough moment for an incredible rider, but we are confident that this low point for JR will soon be matched with some highs.”

Yamaha's Andrea Locatelli P5

Andrea Locatelli qualified in 9th then finished Race 1 in fifth.

“Well, it was for sure a difficult race today, but I think in the end we managed not too bad,” he reacted.

“We got the top five, but I am not happy enough so let’s see where we can improve and we try pushing hard tomorrow to recover some positions to try to make a podium.

“It’s not so far, if maybe we can find something we can be fighting again for the podium.

“Today was difficult to manage both tyres front and rear, and we need to understand what we can work on and what we can do to try to be fast at the end of the race.”

Denning added: “Qualifying was tough today and even though the lap times were super close, ninth and 13th made the job for Race 1 more difficult than we would have liked.

“That said, Loka made an incredible start from the third row to be in fourth position immediately, and after that rode a very well calculated race here in Catalunya.

“Managing the tyre wear is absolutely the only priority, Loka felt the pace was a little too fast at the start for this, so he dropped back a bit but potentially looking at the data in hindsight possibly he could have pushed little bit earlier for fourth place or even the podium. Good job for Andrea and his crew, another solid race.”