Rea eager to assess Pirelli tyre options for race two

Jonathan Rea says he will try out the same Pirelli rear tyre option Michael van der Mark used in his charge to victory in the Donington Park opener after losing out to the Pata Yamaha rider.

Van der Mark stormed to a maiden World Superbike win in race one at the British round, while also taking Yamaha’s first win in the series since the final race of the 2011 campaign, with Rea battling back in second place after losing ground battling Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes.

Rea eager to assess Pirelli tyre options for race two

Jonathan Rea says he will try out the same Pirelli rear tyre option Michael van der Mark used in his charge to victory in the Donington Park opener after losing out to the Pata Yamaha rider.

Van der Mark stormed to a maiden World Superbike win in race one at the British round, while also taking Yamaha’s first win in the series since the final race of the 2011 campaign, with Rea battling back in second place after losing ground battling Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes.

Rea opted for a different rear Pirelli SC0 development tyre compared to van der Mark – who used the other SC0 development tyre compound – and assuming tomorrow’s morning warm-up stays dry he will aim to use the session to assess his pace on the same compound which van der Mark opted for in the opener.

The Kawasaki rider hopes the other tyre option will help him in the fast and flowing opening two sector of Donington Park having struggled for pace on the longer corners while making strong gains around the stop-and-start final sector.

“Looking at how Michael managed his tyre we might need to evaluate that tomorrow morning and try the  different option Pirelli tyre to see how it works with our bike,” Rea said.

“In initial acceleration I felt quiet good but anywhere I was using a lot of lean angle, trying to carry momentum, I was really struggling. We just need to re-evaluate our package for tomorrow.

“I felt like I did the best job I could as at the end of the race the bike was becoming very physical to ride, moving a lot and I was riding a bit tense. It was not for us today.”

Despite missing out to van der Mark in the opening race at Donington Park, Rea has still extended his World Superbike championship lead to 59 points over nearest rival Chaz Davies. Rea will also get a second shot at taking the all-time series wins record at his home round after equalling Carl Fogarty on 59 career victories last time out at Imola.

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