Rea gets rider coaching from Fabien Foret
Jonathan Rea has heralded his progress in the one-day in-season test at Jerez as 'maybe the most positive of the season' as he worked on 2017 updates and altered his riding style under instruction from Fabien Foret to be more conductive with the Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Having moved to the cusp of a second straight World Superbike crown this weekend, needing just two points to seal the title in Qatar, Rea topped the one-day Jerez test by a quarter of a second from team-mate Tom Sykes.
The Northern Irish rider diligently worked through new parts and settings for the 2017 Kawasaki ZX-10R during the Jerez test and also aimed to adapt his riding style with the help of former World Supersport champion Foret.
Foret, who won the 2002 World Supersport title with Ten Kate Honda, is currently racing in the Endurance World Championship with Team Kawasaki SRC and won the Bol d'Or in 2015 and the 24 Hours Le Mans race in 2016.
"That was a very positive day, maybe the most positive of the season," Rea said. "I spoke for a long time with Fabien Foret, who is helping me to improve my riding, seeing how I am attacking the corners in a different way.
"I am not a testing guy and woke up today with little motivation but step-by-step everything we were trying out was working. We were consistently fast all day and then, when we put all the items together we had been testing, we made a good step forward.
"We tested and refined some things in readiness for 2017 including some new front forks, and found not only a happy feeling with the forks but a rear shock we tried near the end as well. Even with used tyres we were able to lap very fast. I was happy all day. Even in the hot conditions we were able to be fast."
