Jonathan Rea explains why he felt like “a vulnerable fish” in Aragon WorldSBK Race 2

Fifth place in Aragon WorldSBK Race 2 was Jonathan Rea’s equal-best result of the 2025 season, but he “felt like a vulnerable fish” in the second half of the race.

Rea started well from eighth on the grid, getting up to fourth on the opening lap.

Alvaro Bautista then came forwards and passed Rea and Andrea Iannone, who started third. Rea was then able to get ahead of the Go Eleven Ducati rider as well before trying to take advantage of Bautista ahead.

“When Alvaro [Bautista] came past, I thought it was really difficult to stay with him,” Jonathan Rea told WorldSBK.com after Race 2 in Aragon.

“I was stronger in some areas of the track and he was so much stronger in that last sector. 

“I was doing everything I could just to come out of turn 15 and try and stay in his slipstream to try and go away from the group.”

Rea’s battle in the end was with Iannone for fourth place, and it was while the Italian was closing the Pata Yamaha rider down that Rea began to feel “vulnerable”.

“When Andrea [Iannone] was coming I felt like a vulnerable fish with a shark coming behind me,” he said.

“Eventually he caught me. It was all I could do, I was just waiting for some kind of mistake.

“He had a little bit more pace than me in the last few laps,  but P5 is something that we can be really happy with as a team. 

“Of course, it’s not where we want to be – we’re quite a few seconds off the race win – but it’s the best version of ourselves that we’ve shown in a while.”

Rea changed to the harder of the two available from tyre compounds, the SC2, for Race 2 on Sunday, something he felt made a difference compared to the softer SC1 he ran on Saturday.

“The SC1 front tyre, the softer version of the Pirelli front, is the preferred choice for the Yamaha R1,” he explained.

“Last year I tried the SC2 a few times, that was my preferred tyre before I arrived in Yamaha. I don’t know if it was me being over the limit or the bike, but I crashed and the team were quite reluctant to try that again. 

“But after yesterday’s problems with turning, we tried it and it was the right decision because I started to feel like my old self. 

“The stability the tyre gives me on the shoulder entering the corner, I could keep the carcass of the tyre quite strong and solid and finish the corner better. 

“I don’t know if it’s the sort of tyre we can use in Estoril; in Jerez you do need grip and it might suit the softer front tyre, but [the SC2] it really gave me that little bit extra today that I didn’t have yesterday.”