The 2025 season has already got off to a rocky start for Yamaha and Jonathan Rea...

During the penultimate day of pre-season testing, Jonathan Rea was declared unfit for the season opener.

The six-time World Superbike Champion suffered a heavy crash during Day One of the Phillip Island World Superbike Test. During the morning session crash, Rea fractured three bones in his left foot, leaving him on the sidelines.

After testing had concluded for the day Paul Denning, Pata Maxus Yamaha Team Principal, told WorldSBK.com: "It wasn’t an easy day on Jonathan’s side and a bitterly disappointing day for him and his crew and for everybody in the Yamaha WorldSBK project.

"We’ve had such a step over the winter with Jonathan and his confidence and comfort on the R1, and his ability to be consistent and smooth and get the best out of the bike. Everything was looking normal today, but Phillip Island has a habit of biting you quite hard sometimes.

"It’s a fast and very high grip circuit, but such a high grip circuit means when the grid releases… we’ve seen today many quite violent accidents, and Jonathan got unlucky with his left foot getting caught up in the bike and he’s broken some bones in the left foot.

"The next steps aren’t exactly clear, but the basic plan is to get back to the UK as quickly as possible and to have some surgery and start the recovery process."

Denning also spoke about where Rea and Yamaha go from here ahead of Round Two in Portimao between the 28th and 30th of March.

"At this stage, it’s difficult to say. I’d prefer not to say. He’s seeing a specialist here on Wednesday before he goes home to get, let’s say, a full initial report and understanding of the injury.

"After we have that and after surgery is planned, let’s see, but Portimao is not so far away so I think it’s going to be a big challenge."