Rea not focusing on World Superbike records despite pace

Jonathan Rea says he’s focusing on finding the maximum performance from his Kawasaki ZX-10RR before facing the idea of beating the all-time World Superbike race wins record this weekend at Donington Park.

The reigning World Superbike champion needs just one more win to surpass Carl Fogarty’s career victory record, having equalled the four-time world champion in Imola on 59 wins, and looks a set to be a strong contender against Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes.

Rea has topped Friday practice at Donington Park with his best lap of 1m 28.003s two-tenths of a second faster than Sykes in a drying FP3 session.

Having seen the opening two practice sessions hampered by rain, Rea believes his home round remains open and feels nobody can attack the races with confidence having lost vital dry track time while the weekend weather forecast is looking warmer and brighter.

“It’s been a horrible day for weather and the first session was completely wet while the second session was a waste of time in the conditions,” Rea said. “The last session was really difficult with the drying line which was about two metres wide.

“I’m not trying to think about winning races tomorrow or Sunday to get to 60 race victories, I am trying to do a strong job. This circuit hasn’t been the kindest to me over the years but I have been quite good with my ZX-10RR.

“Tom is fast here so he is the reference point so I will try to go with him and see what happens but it is difficult for everybody as nobody has had a perfect day and can go into tomorrow feeling confident.”

Rea is hopeful Kawasaki’s pure pace advantage from a package standpoint can give him a key edge over its rival manufacturers but accepts Friday’s weather could produce a surprise at his home round.

“We are very lucky at Kawasaki as our bike has a good base level so I felt quite strong with it at the previous rounds,” he said. “We can continue to work tomorrow but we only need to find small steps not like seconds.

“We are pretty much going into the races blind without being fully equipped with the relevant information but that is fun as well.”