Rea: “There’s no substitute for horsepower, lost three tenths to Ducati…”

Jonathan Rea says his strong points at the Magny-Cours WorldSBK round were immediately eliminated due to the lack of horsepower compared to Ducati.

Robert Jones

15 Sep 2023

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki WorldSBK Magny-Cours 2023

The six-time WorldSBK champion was back mixing it with the likes of Alvaro Bautista, albeit for a short period in Race 1, before a race-long battle for second against Toprak Razgatlioglu in Race 2.

A rare sight in 2023, Rea seemed to have more pace than Razgatlioglu throughout the race as made several overtakes on the Yamaha ride.

Most of those came under heavy braking for turn five, something other riders very rarely managed to do against the Yamaha rider.

But while his pace was strong, it was no match for Bautista who eventually won from Razgatlioglu by over five seconds.

After following Bautista during the early stages, Rea could see exactly where and why he was losing so much ground.

Rea began by saying: "On Sunday, my pace is OK! In the last part of Race 2, I could fight with Toprak and was enjoying it. I think it shows that this weekend, we had a positive trend.

"I could stop the bike quite well and had good mechanical traction but I had nothing for Alvaro and Ducati. They had an incredible race.

"The setup is so sharp and sometimes when we're trying to improve, we're going round and round because we don't really have anything new to try.

"There's nothing new coming on the chassis side. We're always trying to juggle the parts we have, even old ones we have had for many years. What do we need to be competitive?

"From a chassis perspective, we could look after the tyre a bit more and there's no substitute for horsepower. At Turn 1 and 2, I could take time out of Ducati, but by the time we're at Turn 5, I could lose two to three tenths.

"All that you gain, you lose it in areas that are free. We need power but then, come other problems. We need to improve for sure."

Rea has just three more rounds before he leaves Kawasaki to replace Razgatlioglu at Yamaha.

The rider who knows Rea better than most given their close battles since 2021, the Turkish star thinks Rea will adapt well to his new challenge.

"I think for him, it’s a new challenge," added Razgatlioglu. "I respect him because it’s many years riding for Kawasaki and now is the biggest change.

"I think good for him because sometimes you need to change and to mix and to have a new target.

"After he saw me, maybe he’s thinking about a new challenge. He’s a very good rider, a WorldSBK legend and I think he’ll do a good job with Yamaha. We’ll see next year!"