Italian WorldSBK Race 1 “a bit of a shock to the system” for returning Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea’s return to action in WorldSBK was not a headline performance in the context of his career, as the six-time World Champion struggled to maintain a strong pace, made mistakes, and ultimately finished down in 19th.

Rea made a decent start to the race, running inside the points before falling backwards after lap 10.

The Pata Yamaha rider said that he was pleased to be back in action after two-and-a-half months of recovering from a complicated left foot injury sustained in testing in February, but also admitted that his physical condition still has a way to go before it’s at the level required to compete at a top level in World Superbike for a full race distance.

“It was nice to line up again and get that feeling, and after a really good start from my grid position I was maintaining a good pace – until I just started really struggling to stop the bike and used a lot of physical energy,” Rea said after Race 1 at Cremona.

“I’m honestly just not ready to ride at that level of intensity and it was a bit of a shock to the system.

“There were a couple of areas where I made mistakes and was in the gravel twice, so I just had to regroup and ride at a slower pace to finish the race, as frustrating as that was.

“A clear area to improve for tomorrow, I am sure the engineers can compare and understand my problems to try and help me – but aside from the negatives, it was nice to be back and start my season because today is like day one.

“There’s a lot of good data, and I needed to stay out and do the laps physically to prepare because there’s no fitness like bike fitness.”

“Bad luck” for Locatelli

Having come into the Cremona weekend off the back of his maiden win, a crash, remount, and ride to 18th was not what Andrea Locatelli will have been hoping for at his home race, but a combination of bad luck and mistakes cost the Italian the chance to express what he felt like was top-six potential.

The “bad luck” for Locatelli was catching yellow flags in Superpole, while he made two mistakes: riding slowly on the racing line to receive a three-place grid drop for Race 1; and crashing on the second lap at turn two.

“Bad luck in the end,” the Italian summarised.

“A difficult day and things did not work out well for us.

“We tried to maximise our qualifying; the potential was at least row two, but we were a bit unlucky with the yellow flag and then also the penalty, and so it was a big shame to start 11th.

“In the race, I don’t know what happened but I made a small mistake and lost the front in turn two – then I rejoined and completed the race distance because the damage was not too bad.

“We took some data and I had some feeling with the bike to give feedback, and now I’m looking forward to trying again tomorrow.

“We will try to make a step forward in the Superpole Race and also focus on a good result in Race 2.”