Jonathan Rea picks out his WorldSBK “career rival”: "It was a frosty relationship"

Chaz Davies has been named by Jonathan Rea as his “career rival” as he winds down his time as a full-time racer in WorldSBK.

Rea and Davies fought for the title together for four consecutive seasons between 2015 and 2018, Rea coming out on top each time.

In that time, Davies won 25 races, and retired at the end of the 2021 season as the rider with the most wins in World Superbike without a title in the class.

The Welshman finished runner-up to Rea in three of the four seasons, missing out on the silver medal to Tom Sykes in 2016 when Davies was third instead – although it was this year that saw Davies score his record points haul with 445.

As a result of Davies’ strength in these years, it’s him that Rea considers the main rival of his career.

“Without a doubt Chaz Davies,” Jonathan Rea told a special press conference in Magny-Cours when asked to pick out one rival from his World Superbike career.

“He’s been my career rival in my prime, or my era of Superbike. I feel like if I hadn’t won three, four, five world titles, Chaz would’ve won the same. 

“He was a guy that I felt like brought out the best of me on the track but also off the track. I was really motivated at home. 

“Chaz was a professional, clever guy. I would enjoy the plaudits on the weekend and a few beers on a Sunday night, but I’d go home and [...] I’d turn myself inside out to come back and try to beat him even more or to return the favour. 

“It was good and you never knew – a bit like Toprak [Razgatlioglu] in this era – if, sometimes if there wasn’t a gap there, Chaz would make a gap. 

“I hope after racing we can really enjoy that with each other, because it was a frosty relationship – and I enjoyed that, honestly – but I would say he was my career rival and I enjoyed that a lot.”