Yamaha looking for Jonathan Rea to “adapt his style” to WorldSBK R1

Niccolo Canepa says that Jonathan Rea is still yet to “adapt his style” to the Yamaha R1 in WorldSBK after what the Italian described as a “disappointing” round at Misano for the #65.

Rea's Superpole struggles continued at Misano as he qualified only 16th, and he was only able to improve to 12th in Race 1. A better Superpole Race performance brought him onto the front three rows for Race 2 in seventh place, but he crashed from seventh place early in the second full-length race.

The Northern Irish rider said after the second World Superbike race at Misano just over one week ago that the weekend had followed a “positive trajectory”, despite Race 2 crash.

Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Sporting Manager Niccolo Canepa, though, said that it was a weekend that saw Rea “not really competitive throughout”, and that the six-time World Champion’s struggles come in contrast to the performances of riders like Andrea Locatelli and Remy Gardner, for whom the R1 is “working quite well”.

“It was a disappointing weekend for Jonny [Jonathan Rea], as despite a quite positive test a few weeks earlier he was not really competitive throughout the weekend, qualifying 16th, finishing 12th in Race 1 with lap times far away from the guys in front,” Canepa said after the Emilia-Romagna Round.

“The Superpole Race was a little bit better, but then in Race 2 he had a crash, so it has been difficult for him.

“He has still not been able to find a way to adapt his style to extract the pace out of the R1, which is working quite well at the minute in the hands of Locatelli and Gardner.”

Rea left Misano lying 18th in the riders’ standings on 16 points. The next stop on the 2025 World Superbike calendar is Donington, where Rea scored his one and so far only podium with Yamaha in the Superpole Race last year.