Spanish WorldSBK struggles “cemented” Jonathan Rea retirement decision

Jonathan Rea had his decision to retire from full-time racing in WorldSBK “cemented” by his disastrous final round of 2025 at Jerez.

The six-time World Superbike Champion headed to Jerez after being able to fight inside the top six positions at the previous three rounds in France, Aragon, and Estoril, but he managed only two full racing laps in Jerez.

Race 1 saw Rea crash out on lap three, while in the Superpole Race he crashed on the opening lap at turn three with Remy Gardner.

That Superpole Race crash resulted in a knee injury that saw him declared unfit for Race 2, meaning he scored no points on his final weekend as a full-time rider.

Rea admitted it was not the way he wanted to end this part of his life, but he reflected overall with positivity on his time with the people inside the Yamaha WorldSBK project.

“Completely not the way I wanted to end this chapter, both in WorldSBK and with Yamaha,” Jonathan Rea said, “but looking back it was honestly a really nice project and a great team of people to be with.

“I want to thank everybody for all of their hard work and a huge ‘good luck’ for the future.

“Really grateful for this opportunity to ride for an amazing bunch of guys, but you can’t write the end of your own story and if anything, this weekend has cemented my decision to walk away from the sport. 

“I hope I’ll be remembered as someone who gave everything right until the last lap. A huge thanks to all the World Superbike community, all the fans, my fans and all our sponsors for being here on the journey. I’ve had a great ride and I’ll see you on the other side.”