Battling Alvaro Bautista at Estoril WorldSBK “demoralising” for Jonathan Rea

While Jonathan Rea was back in the battle for podium positions at the Estoril WorldSBK, fighting against Alvaro Bautista was a “demoralising” experience for the Pata Yamaha rider.

Since Bautista moved to World Superbike from MotoGP in 2019, straight line speed has been one of his biggest weapons versus his rivals.

Always kind on tyres, it would be unfair to label Bautista a one-dimensional rider who relies on straight line performance to get results, but even against other Ducati riders and even with the additional weight he is forced to run under balance of performance regulations introduced at the beginning of 2024 the Spanish rider still often exhibits a substantial straight line speed advantage over his rivals.

This was especially evident at Estoril, which features the longest start-finish straight of the season.

Bautista excelled exiting the long final corner and along the straight, but would be caught again by those behind – at least in the early laps of races – in the tighter sections of the track in sectors two and three.

This was the experience for Rea, who, aboard the Yamaha R1, is at a disadvantage in terms of straight line speed to almost every other machine on the grid, but even more so to the Ducatis and even more still versus the Ducati of the lightweight Bautista.

As fast as rea was in the twistier sections of the Estoril layout during the opening laps of all three races in Portugal last weekend (10–12 October), he could not find a way through on Bautista that prevented the Spanish rider from striking back on the straight.

Such was Bautista’s advantage between the final corner and turn one that Rea says he found it “demoralising”.

“The easiest place to pass is on the straight,” Jonathan Rea told WorldSBK.com after Estoril Race 2.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury. 

“In fact, it was demoralising for me riding behind him in the Superpole Race because from the exit of the last corner to turn one he gained such an advantage that I spent two sectors making that up, then the third sector he was under my feet, and it was all I could do just to exit the last corner to be there and try and take some kind of slipstream. 

“Of course, I’m not the smallest rider, aerodynamically not the most efficient, but we can’t lose that amount of time. So, it’s tough. 

“I also understand his point of view, but fighting with him is super-hard.”

Race 2 setup misdirection

Rea fell backwards in all three races at Estoril, but most significantly in Race 2.

The Northern Irishman said this was down to a setup change he made for the final race that cost him rear traction.

“For the long race, we made a small change with the bike, trying to find a little bit more grip and make the bike calmer,” he explain .

“But, in effect, it went against us. I really struggled with rear traction the whole race. 

“So, in the beginning of the race I felt okay but as soon as I had that first drop of the rear tyre I felt like a sitting duck, really, so it was time to bring the bike home.”

He added: “Just a few setup issues, just a wrong direction we took. But you have to make these changes to try and improve. 

“So, we’ll learn from that and go into Jerez with let’s say a good feeling that we were able to fight inside the top-five and try and cap off the year strong.”

Rea also said that he thought he had a technical problem at one point in the race but this was not reflected in the data.

“There was a point in the race that I thought I had a technical issue because I felt something strange with the engine, so I spent some laps looking for some smoke or warnings,” he said.

“But it must have been my imagination because we checked on the data and nothing was wrong on that point.”

“Frustrated” with Superpole Race crash

The Race 2 setup changes came after a crash in the Superpole Race.

It was one that left Rea “frustrated” because he felt he had an opportunity to make a good result.

“Frustrated with [the Superpole Race crash], to be honest, because I had good track position,” Rea said.

“When Loka [Andrea Locatelli] came past I was mindful of his third place in the championship aspirations, so I didn’t really want to get involved. I thought he would have pace to go with Alvaro [Bautista] and beyond. 

“But it seemed after a few laps he just wasn’t making in-roads. So, I thought, ‘Okay, I need to try and mount a challenge,’ because I felt good with the bike. 

“We were really strong in sectors two and three, that I thought if I can be there in the last lap it was my chance. 

“But I went down in turn seven, just that little bit over the limit; a few degrees more than the previous lap and that’s the margins we’re talking about.”