Jonathan Rea: “When you’re down and out, it’s hard to see a way forward”

Jonathan Rea has described his gruelling journey back to World Superbike Championship competition.

Rea has been passed fit for Friday’s FP1 at the Cremona WorldSBK round, his first action of the 2025 season.

The Yamaha rider badly injured his foot in a crash during pre-season testing, and has been on the shelf ever since.

“It’s good to finally be back, it feels like a long journey, although in reality I only missed a few races,” he said in Cremona.

“Every day I lived to get back as fast as possible.

“It was nice to watch from afar, that Loka got his first WorldSBK race win. Yamaha have been competitive. It gives us confidence and motivation.

“Now I get to sample it tomorrow. I’ll try to blow off the cobwebs as fast as possible.”

Jonathan Rea: 'Pain was incredibly bad'

Rea said about his recovery: “The last few weeks have gone fast. I was in a cast so it was pretty tough, the pain was incredibly bad.

“As soon as I could start training, I went to Barcelona. I spent three or four weeks there, I had great physios there.

“When you’re down and out, really injured, it’s hard to see a way forward.

“When you start feeling better, I got better fast.”

In his absence, Yamaha have shown some meaningful progress in WorldSBK.

Rea’s teammate Andrea Locatelli took his maiden win in the category at Assen last time out.

“As soon as I sat on the ‘25 bike in November, I felt competitive,” Rea said.

“Through the winter, I was one of the fastest in race pace. I knew there were signs that things were starting to happen.

“You are seeing that now. Kudos to Yamaha for their hard work. But there is still work to do, to bridge that gap, and be there every weekend.

“You have to take opportunities when they come. When the stars align, the bike has proven that you can win.”

However, Rea is returning to unfamiliar terrain. He missed last year’s Cremona debut on the WorldSBK calendar so must learn the track, in addition to riding for the first time since injury.

Rea admitted: “If I were to pick a circuit to come back at, it wouldn’t be here! But we have to start somewhere.

“I feel good, strength is good. I don’t want to think about my foot. I want to go and ride, get the first laps out of my head, and get down to business.”