Rea hoping for ‘really strong weekend’ after winless Misano

Six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea is hoping improvements made to the turning ability of his Kawasaki will benefit him at Donington Park. 

Rea was one of ten riders involved in last week’s two-day Navarra test as he and the Japanese team focused on the chassis and turning. 

Last time out in Misano, Rea had a strong weekend as he claimed three third place finishes, but was unable to better Michael Rinaldi and main championship challenger Toprak Razgatlioglu in any of the races. 

Rea has a good but not stunning record at Donington when comparing it to other circuits on the calendar. His four wins came in 2017 (1 win) and 2019 (3 wins). 

The British round was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but with it returning this weekend and a small capacity crowd allowed, Rea is eager to have a ‘really strong’ home ‘weekend’.

Rea said: "I am really excited to go to Donington because we missed it last year. We had a great weekend there in 2019 and it is a circuit that I really enjoy riding at. 

"From past experience it is also a good track for the Ninja ZX-10RR so I am excited to get the new and improved 2021 model there. Our first home race in two years and we will have some fans trackside, which is nice, although it would have been good to have a packed Donington. 

"There will be a bit of atmosphere there and I am looking froward to it. I hope to make a really strong weekend and work from Friday morning to understand the tyre options Pirelli has brought, and we will continue to fine-tune our bike to be ready for the races. 

"At the recent Navarra test we tried some chassis options and we have a great understanding of the working window of the bike, so we have options should we face some limitations. 

"I feel we really understood how we could get the bike to turn better and that will help us in some sections at Donington."