Does Jonathan Rea have a route back to the top of WorldSBK?

Halfway through his second season with the Pata Yamaha team, six-time WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea is approaching another crossroad in his career.

Having joined Yamaha at the end of 2023 after deciding that the Kawasaki ZX-10RR he won only one race on that year was no longer competitive enough to fight for a world title, Rea has been unable to conjure the level of performance that he managed in his Kawasaki peak, nor the level Toprak Razgatlioglu achieved with the YZF-R1 between 2021–2023.

Indeed, in a season where Yamaha has scored five podiums and one win, Jonathan Rea’s best finish has been a seventh in the Misano Superpole Race.

It remains true that Rea’s 2025 season has been complicated by a significant injury sustained at the Phillip Island test in February ahead of the opening round of the season which saw him miss the opening three rounds of 2025.

However, Rea has spoken since his return of his difficulty in finding the best from the R1.

“We can grind out results, but I think, fundamentally, still I don’t really understand the bike too much, especially when we have to go for a Superpole,” Rea said, speaking to WorldSBK.com, at the end of the Emilia-Romagna Round after he crashed out of Race 2 there.

The results Rea speaks of ‘grinding out’ are, as aforementioned, something like a seventh place. This from a rider who, in his title years, finished a total of 14 races off the podium over the course of six seasons – six seasons which included two years of the three-race weekend format.

If the point of Rea’s move to Yamaha, then, was to reposition himself as a title contender after a near-winless year at Kawasaki, it appears at present to be a move that is going to fail its objective.

For Rea, who will turn 39 before the start of the 2026 season, considerations must be made about his next contract – possibly, if not likely to be, his last in the World Championship.

Having spent one-and-a-half seasons on the Yamaha, that he is still struggling to understand the bike suggests his future will lie outside of the Iwata marque.

Additionally, even the public noises from Yamaha suggest a dissatisfaction with the performance, with Yamaha Motor Europe’s Sporting and Road Racing Manager Niccolo Canepa saying he found Rea’s performance at Misano “disappointing” compared to the likes of Remy Gardner and Andrea Locatelli – the latter finding himself on the podium in the Superpole Race.

Will Jonathan Rea leave Yamaha?

Perhaps, then, a move away from Yamaha is the answer for Rea in 2026, and the option is seemingly clear.

Only three brands have won races in WorldSBK in the past one-and-a-half seasons: Yamaha, BMW, and Ducati.

Yamaha’s only win came in Race 2 at Assen this year when the aforementioned Locatelli inherited the lead from Nicolo Bulega when the Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider encountered technical issues; and all but one of the victories BMW has scored in the past season-and-a-half have been taken by Toprak Razgatlioglu (the other being taken in the rain by Michael van der Mark in Race 2 at Magny-Cours last year).

That leaves Ducati, whose factory team has won with both Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista since the beginning of 2024, and which won four races with satellite riders last season: three with Barni’s Danilo Petrucci, and one with Go Eleven’s Andrea Iannone.

It is Ducati which has the strongest package in WorldSBK, one that is strong enough for satellite teams to be able to contend for podiums and wins, and it is therefore Ducati which is Rea’s most likely route back to the top of World Superbike.

It would be, in a way, equivalent to the move that Scott Redding made for 2024, as he sought to return himself to the front with the Bonovo MGM Ducati after three years of difficulty with BMW.

Redding, though, has been evidence that the Panigale V4 R – which will have a model update for 2026 – is not a magic bullet in WorldSBK. He started the season well in Phillip Island with three top-fives, but has only been in the top-10 on four occasions since then.

The added complication for Rea, compared to what Redding faced, is that he must find his way into the existing Ducati roster, whereas the MGM team’s switch from BMW to Ducati for this season opened a spot for the #45, who joined the German outfit for its last season with the M1000 RRs in 2024 and stuck with it for this year.

Jonathan Rea to Ducati?

We know that Alvaro Bautista is leaving the Aruba.it Racing team at the end of this season, as was confirmed at Misano, but the more likely route for Rea to Ducati seems to be outside the factory team and with the Bologna marque’s armada of satellite teams.

Specifically, it seems to be the Go Eleven team where Rea is most likely to end up, according to GPOne.com which reports that Andrea Iannone could leave the Italian team at the end of this season.

Iannone’s season, like Rea’s, has been disappointing at Go Eleven. The Italian was a race winner in Aragon in his rookie WorldSBK season, but in 2025 Iannone hasn’t been on the podium since round one in Australia and his best result since then was a fourth in Race 1 at Cremona.

Iannone came into 2025 hoping that additional technical support from Ducati would turn him into a consistent podium and victory contender, but it hasn’t gone that way at all.

If Go Eleven and Iannone are set to split, it could be an option for Rea.

But he will not be the only contender for the seat, as current WorldSSP points leader Stefano Manzi is keen to step up to WorldSBK next season.

Yamaha is theoretically the clear option for the Italian, who seems on course for the Supersport title despite mistakes in recent races at Most and Misano. But with his compatriot Andrea Locatelli already confirmed at Yamaha’s factory team for next season, a spot at GRT Yamaha would be a more realistic possibility for Manzi to step up with the manufacturer he joined for 2024.

GPOne has reported that Manzi may look elsewhere for his Superbike graduation next year, and Go Eleven a strong possibility in that case.

Part of the reason for this is Manzi’s connection with Remo Gobbi, the owner of the Pata Chips brand.

“Regarding Manzi, there is a backstory I would like to mention, dating back to the 2023 World Championship, a key moment in his career,” Gobbi said in an interview with GPOne in December 2024.

“Stefano [Manzi] was having a great season and, given his commitment on the track, I decided to intervene personally to take charge of his victory prizes and placements.

“In the end Stefano is still starring with Yamaha today, and in 2026 I would like to take him to SBK.”

However, Speedweek has since reported that Manzi will be on a Yamaha in 2026, having made a positive impression when he tested the R1 at Misano at the end of June.

That would suit Rea, but he would still require Iannone to leave in order for him to have a path to Ducati.

Should Iannone stay, or Go Eleven opt for someone other than Rea in any case, there would surely be other suitors for the Northern Irishman in WorldSBK. The question then would be about Rea’s willingness to commit to the project – something which would be determined by his interpretation of said project’s capacity to facilitate his return to the top of the World Superbike Championship.