Jonathan Rea 'miles off' pace on difficult Sunday at World Superbike curtain-raiser in Australia
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The Northern Ireland rider had made a strong start to the first race weekend of the season with a hard-earned runner-up finish in Saturday’s first race in the wet, but Rea struggled in the Superpole race and race two, finishing seventh and eighth respectively.
He is 31 points behind reigning champion Alvaro Bautista, who put in a dominant performance on the Aruba.it Ducati to win all three races.
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Hide AdRea was pushed wide in the Superpole race by WSBK rookie Dominique Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) and was unable to claw back lost ground, while a rapid deterioration in rear grip in race two cost him any chance of fighting for fourth.
“It was a difficult weekend and a bit of a mixed bag,” said Rea.
“We have got to take some positives because we have been fast in certain areas but consistently not good enough. We really struggled with set-up and some factors out there.
“In the Superpole race I was not fast enough, but I was faster than the group I was in. Dominique Aegerter came in at T4 and almost took me to the gravel, so I had to rebuild my race.
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Hide Ad“It is hard to put it all together to understand where we fell short. But it was clear today in the long second race that we did not nail the set-up.”
The six-time champion highlighted the problem he faced with rear grip in the second 22-lap race, saying it ‘dropped off a cliff’ at the end.
“We were miles off at the end of the race, even after looking after my tyres, using short lines, doing everything in my experience to manage the race and we were still nowhere,” said Rea.
“We dropped off a cliff at the end and it is really frustrating. We need to have a bit of a look in the mirror and try to understand why we struggled so much.
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Hide Ad“I don’t expect this to be our benchmark for the rest of the season. We can do much better, but the bike set-up wasn’t working today, not like normal.
“So hopefully we can just understand why, put that aside, and start again from zero at Mandalika for the next round.”
A jubilant Bautista, who is now the most successful WSBK rider ever at Phillip Island with eight wins, said it was the perfect start to his title defence.
“I think it’s the best way to start the season,” said Bautista.
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Hide Ad“I’m happy because we were quite competitive in all three races with three different situations. The feeling with the bike has been amazing this weekend in all conditions.
“Now, we have to enjoy the moment and just try to keep this feeling for the next one.”
The World Superbike paddock now heads directly to Indonesia for round two at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on the tropical island of Lombok.
Bautista leads the standings with 62 points from Pata Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli in second with 34, while Rea and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) are joint third with 31 points.