SBK | Portimao Test Day 2, Rea: “I'm not completely satisfied with the feeling”

SBK Test Portimao Yamaha – Six-time Superbike champion Jonathan Rea is not entirely satisfied with the two-day test held in Portimao.

The new Yamaha rider didn't regain the feeling he had with his R1 in Jerez and a technical problem also complicated things.

Here's what the former Kawasaki rider said who is still ready to face the first round of the Superbike scheduled for 23 to 25 February at Phillip Island while a few days before, exactly from 19 to 20 February there will be the last official tests, again on the Australian track.

Statements Jonathan Rea Test Portimao Yamaha

“The guys have to check exactly what happened, but I stopped at Turn 1; We parked that bike for the day, so we lost a little bit of time with what happened and then, of course, we only had one bike for the rest of the test. We focused again on our workload, confirming the bike and I'm not completely satisfied with the feeling. I did a longer run to understand the tire wear, but I got faster and faster, so there are some positives. I think our outright speed needs to improve a little bit. I didn't feel completely comfortable, so we are still working to find the optimal setup; it's the first time we rode in Portimao with the Yamaha and the bike behaved a little differently to what I was used to. There is work to do for everyone, but I am happy, confident and relieved that the testing is finished.”

Statements Jonathan Rea Goals Phillip Island Test Portimao Yamaha

“Things have been positive, step by step we are trying to understand how the tire behaves, an area we are trying to focus on at the moment, to give me a bit of traction as I pick up the bike. Some ideas and parts were better, others were the same and not too different. We will continue to work on this and see what we can do in Australia.”