Jonathan Rea credits to Alex Lowes for strong UK WorldSBK Superpole: “That made the race”

Fifth place for Jonathan Rea in Race 1 at the UK WorldSBK marked the Northern Irish rider’s best result of the 2025 season so far.

Rea has typically struggled in qualifying this year in World Superbike, which has impacted his ability to perform in qualifying. On Saturday at Donington, he was able to end Superpole in fourth place, something he gave credit Bimota’s Alex Lowes for.

“It was good,” Jonathan Rea summarised when speaking after Race 1.

“I was able to qualify well – it’s been one of my weakest areas in the last 18 months on the Yamaha R1, just to be able to put myself in a position to be on the front rows.

“I’ve got to give big kudos to Alex [Lowes] – he wasn’t bothered about me being behind him in the qualifying lap. I knew I needed a good wheel to maximise the chance of being on the front rows and I had a great lap behind him.

“That made the race because I got a fantastic start, I was able to arrive P2 [at the first corner].

“Of course, Nicolo [Bulega] came past, and Locatelli, but after not finding my rhythm straight away I was able to go step-by-step.

“Not more than I expected but very satisfied with how today went.”

Rea’s fifth place came after a late battle with Scott Redding, who started to struggle with rear grip.

“It was strange because he was strong in some areas and I was strong in others,” Rea explained.

“He was quite good on the brakes into the chicane; I was much better initially on the exit of turn eight onto the back straight. But, as soon as we went from third to fourth gear, he was just able to get enough of a gap that I couldn’t attack him.

“It was nice to be in a battle. The problem is, you have the same battles in P8–11, you have these same battles but it’s for nothing – it’s for small points, it’s not on TV, there’s no heroes when you’re finishing P10 but you have the same battles.

“It’s just nicer to have that battle at the front or more at the front. So, it was nice. Nothing to be spraying champagne about, but it was good for the guys, as well, to feel a good top-five result.”

The Pata Yamaha rider said that grip for him, as for others this weekend, has been a problem, especially in corner exit traction.

“From when we arrived here on Friday, traction has been a huge issue,” he said.

“Where I’m struggling is the first touch of the throttle – I’m always just losing the position of the bike, even if the bike’s spinning it’s not spinning in a linear way, it’s moving, and this really upsets the forward momentum.

“We know, our bike, the chassis works very well, and we need to maximise this area to exit onto the long straights.

“But when the grip level is down, we have a disadvantage in this area, so we just need to work tomorrow to try to make a step and maximise our acceleration.”

The lack of grip means Rea is tending towards softer rear tyres this weekend, although this is also influenced by the chassis characteristics of the Yamaha; he is even considering an SCQ tyre for the Superpole Race.

“We don’t push the tyre a lot, we don’t consume a lot of tyre, either, so we need that grip,” he explained.

“I think, when you use the SC0, you need to make the tyre work, it’s a stronger-construction tyre, and the new SC0, the new evolution of this tyre, is even better than last year’s.

“So, the difference is not so big, but tomorrow I think I’ll continue with the SCX.”

He added: “I used the SCQ in my qualifying laps and it dropped quite quickly. It’s not off the table, but right now I feel that would be more of a gamble.

“But we’ll see tomorrow. Maybe we’ll run again tomorrow morning and we’ll see.”