Reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea has the opportunity to retain his title at Jerez this weekend but has no firm plan and says he won’t go all out to win if the situation demands a different tactic.
Realistically, Rea just needs to finish in front of Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes in both races but the Castletown resident has never been on the podium at Jerez, so it may be a bigger task than it first looks.
“I haven’t got a plan, except to do the best I can. A lot will depend on Friday and Superpole but we have to be realistic as I haven’t been on the podium here before so that is the first little target,” said Rea, speaking to BSN from a rainy Jerez this morning.
“After that we will see how the weekend unfolds. It’s the first opportunity to claim the title but we will understand how realistic that is after Saturday’s race. We have to be clever as both Tom and Chaz are riding well and have absolutely nothing to lose.
“We have made a better season so far and I can’t let my ego get in the way of our target which is to win the championship, so wherever we have to finish to do that, then that’s what we will do. If the opportunity comes to win, then so be it.
“I take a lot of confidence from the last race weekend. Tom and Chaz were, on paper, much stronger, especially on Friday, so heading into Sunday’s race I was not so confident but I had one of the strongest paces but it was the wrong strategy at the end to win.
“We need to plan our weekend out. This year, we have had to work for the results whereas last year they came quite naturally. It will be like any other weekend, work through the plan, get a setup. At Jerez, the tyre drops quite severely compared to other tracks and both races are at the peak of the day, so tyre management is very important.
“There are no strong plans or targets as I think it would be silly of us to get ahead of ourselves. It is nice and exciting that we can win but we have to finish in front of Tom in both races.”
Even though Rea was in a class of his own in the rain at Lausitzring, he will not be doing a rain dance for the weekend, even though it is pissing down there right now.
“I would prefer it to be dry to be honest. There is a lot less risk. I took the bull by the horns at Lausitz as I had seen a 71 point gap vanish to 26, so it was one of those where I had to come out fighting so I did and got back a sensible buffer. It’s easier to minimise risk in the dry.”