Jonathan Rea has played down any suggestion the Ducati Panigale V4 R exists too far outside the ‘spirit of the regulations’ to represent fair competition for its rivals following its dominant run to the 2023 WorldSBK Championship title.

The Italian manufacturer romped to its second successive WorldSBK crown with Alvaro Bautista in 2023, the Spaniard capitalising on an updated Ducati Panigale V4 R package that was more powerful yet fettled to be more user-friendly on the limit.

Indeed, the Ducati’s superior straight line speed and acceleration was used to devastating effect this season in the hands of Bautista, an advantage the Spaniard could repeatedly leverage during race weekends, forcing his rivals to work harder on the brakes and in the corners.

A strength that served to spotlight the more glaring weaknesses of the ageing Kawasaki ZX-10RR package, Rea concedes that he would be left feeling ‘demoralised’ at being unable to defend against the Ducati as it surged past him on the straight and narrow.

“When it happens, it is very frustrating and demoralising,” he told BSN. “When the throttle is at 100%, you can’t make the difference, the bike has to make the difference. This is where we needed to step up.”

However, when pressed on whether he considered the Ducati too specialist in road trim to be considered a fair comparison to the ZX-10RR, Yamaha R1, Honda CBR1000RR-R and BMW M 1000 RR/S 1000 RR on track, Rea says it is to the Italian firm’s credit that it has produced such a ‘phenomenal’ motorcycle.

“It is very obvious the European manufacturers are thriving in MotoGP, but WorldSBK is a production-based championship and we have been the victim of our own success in the past when we had huge technical changes to our bikes that didn’t let us reach full potential. 

“The ZX-10RR given full reign still has huge potential, but this is also a sport and when you’re racing a bike that is €44,000  with one that is €20,000, then there is a huge difference in components.

“[But] no, I don’t [think it is unfair],” the six-time WorldSBK Champion continued. 

“You want to race against the best bike you can, so congrats to Ducati, they have done a great job. It is hard to be in the spirit of the regulations when other manufacturers don’t have that philosophy, so in competition, it’s very hard to keep things entertaining, fair.

“I don’t dispute it is hard for organisers to keep everybody happy but credit to Ducati, it has a phenomenal bike.”