Jonathan Rea pinpoints "huge" cause of UK WorldSBK P15

After top-six finishes in the first two races of the weekend at the UK WorldSBK, Jonathan Rea says a “huge vibration” when braking was to blame for his slump to 15th in Race 2.

Rea, who missed the opening three rounds of the season due to an ankle injury sustained in preseason testing, had scored a best result of seventh in the Misano Superpole Race before the Donington World Superbike weekend.

At Donington, he was much better, qualifying on the second row in fourth place and finishing in the top-six in Race 1 and the Superpole Race.

But Race 2 was much more difficult.

“It’s just a shame to end the weekend the way we did – coming from where we were Friday afternoon, the team did an incredible job for us to have a really strong Saturday, and also this morning I was riding well in the Superpole Race [when] I had a great fight with Loka [Andrea Locatelli],” Jonathan Rea said after Race 2 on Sunday at Donington.

“But, in Race 2, I knew from the warm-up lap that I had a problem in the front of the bike as I felt a huge vibration when I applied the brake.

“I wasn’t quite sure, I thought it might go away when the calipers heated up or as the race went on – but it never went away and it was so difficult to stop, especially when the rear grip dropped from the mid-race distance.”

Rea insisted that there were still positives to be taken from the weekend.

“We won’t let that spoil the weekend too much because there were a lot of positives to take and when you have issues like this, there’s nothing you can do,” he said.

“So, onwards and upwards.

“Thanks to the team for all their hard work, it was very hot for everybody. Now we don’t have to wait too long to go again in Balaton in a couple of weeks.”