EXCLUSIVE - Jonathan Rea: Yamaha WorldSBK “story” can’t “be like this”

Jonathan Rea says his Yamaha WorldSBK “story” cannot continue as it has gone so far amid rumours of an exit from the Iwata marque at the end of the 2025 season.

The Northern Irish rider has scored only one podium in one-and-a-half seasons with Yamaha, and missed the first three rounds of 2025 through an injury sustained in preseason testing.

Rea will be 39-years-old by the beginning of the next season, but he says his response to the injury sustained at Australia is proof of his commitment to winning again in WorldSBK, and indicated that he still has motivation to continue with Yamaha because potential of the Rea-R1 combination is “much better than we’re showing”.

“The first thing I did when I got hurt in Australia was fly home to get an operation – not by the team, sponsors, manufacturer, [I did it] off my own back,” Jonathan Rea said in an interview with Crash.net at the UK WorldSBK.

“I got operated on, I bought myself a hyperbaric chamber. I was so motivated, I was almost in physio every day just to come back to ride a bike that I’ve been struggling with and try to get back to that feeling, working together with the team.

“Probably came back a bit early, to be fair – in Cremona I wasn’t quite ready.

“But you have to start somewhere and I believe in myself, I believe this story with Yamaha can’t be like this.

“There is potential. The potential is so much better than we’re showing.

“It’s just work and I can’t give up on myself. It’s just part and parcel, really.”

Jonathan Rea quizzed about Ducati move

Rea’s lack of results with Yamaha has led to suggestions he could leave at the end of 2025. But the six-time World Superbike Champion says he is currently only thinking about his performance at the upcoming races at Donington and Balaton.

“Prefer not to talk about me and Ducati, if you like,” Rea said when asked by Crash.net if he could see himself aboard a Panigale V4 R.

“Right now I’m just focused on this weekend and Balaton as well. I’ve made it clear that I want to try.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m only three rounds into my championship, but it’s halfway through the season and it’s been tough.

“I need to go out and do a really good job here, Balaton, and then worry about my future and what that looks like, and how I can see myself.

“But I’m not thinking about anything else right now other than trying to maximise my potential and the bike.”

He added: “You can see with Loka [Andrea Locatelli]. Okay, Assen was Assen, and he won a race. But, generally, he’s fighting for the podium and he’s further up the road than I’ve been.

“I haven’t had the best crack at it, but that’s the reference right now at Yamaha and I need to try to arrive there.”

Additionally, 119-time race winner Rea said that his past success in WorldSBK acts now as motivation to get back to the front, but admitted that the “challenge” of moving to Yamaha has been more difficult than he anticipated.

“I know how good that feels, to go through a season like I’ve had, how good it feels to stand on top of the podium, so it’s motivating to try and work to get back there,” he said.

“When I came here [to Yamaha] I knew I needed a change, I knew I needed a new challenge, but it was a bigger challenge than I expected.

“I enjoyed riding the bike from lap one.”

About the YZF-R1, Rea added: “Even Toprak [Razgatlioglu], who really flattered the bike after so many years, it took him quite some time, even quite the way into his first season, to be super-strong.

“Locatelli, a similar way – he’s six years with the team and he’s just won his first race.

“So, okay, I can’t use that as comfort, but I have to take confidence in myself that I’ve won a hell of a lot of races and championships, and not to lose sight of this moment in time.

"It’s been tough, but it’s not worth throwing the towel in or giving up on me.

“I need to keep believing and keep believing in my team, try to make some good moments out of this.”