Jonathan Rea aiming to pick up where he left off as Motorland Aragon hosts second successive World Superbike round

The Spanish circuit hosts a second consecutive round of the series and Kawasaki rider Rea will be aiming to pick up where he left off, following a Sunday double last weekend.

Rea leads Ducati’s Scott Redding by 10 points going into round five of the condensed eight-round championship and the 33-year-old is focused on putting more daylight between himself and his chief title rival this weekend.

“We will come back to the Motorland circuit on Wednesday evening again after a couple of days of relaxing,” said Rea, whose wins came on the back of a dominant treble at Portimao in Portugal.

“Next weekend won’t be so stressful because we have a base set-up from the test and the recent race.

“My mechanics this past weekend did not want to change the bike too much.

“They asked me to change some things in my riding style. FP12 and FP2 will be calmer next week, because we have a lot of information. If the temperatures are the same it should be a calm weekend.”

Aragon was expected to play to the strengths of the Ducati V4 and although it was Redding who triumphed in the opening race, Rea and Kawasaki proved an unbeatable combination once more with two wins to strike a psychological blow ahead of the next three races.

Redding, who ended last Sunday on a disappointing note after finishing fourth in the final race, will be eager to prevent the reigning champion from pulling further clear in the points table as the title battle heats up.

“It’s the first time we’re going to back-to-back on the same circuit,” said the 27-year-old.

“If I have to be honest, I’m not a big fan of this format because I really like changing circuits. We will have to go through free practice again after the tests and the first race weekend, but this is a situation that all riders will have to face.

“The goal is to start the weekend with more incisiveness than we did a week ago. The team is working on this aspect and I have the utmost confidence.”

The Teruel Round at Aragon will be followed by a trip to Catalunya in Barcelona (September 18-20) as the World Superbike Championship makes its debut at the circuit, which has long been a fixture on the MotoGP calendar.

The penultimate round will be held at Magny-Cours in France – a happy hunting ground for Rea in the past – while Estoril in Portugal hosts the final weekend of the 2020 championship from October 16-18.

Estoril replaced Misano as the season-ending round, meaning Portugal will host two rounds of the World Superbike Championship for the first time in history, with the Portimao round taking place last month.

The venue will present a new challenge to the riders, having previously been part of the WSBK calendar during the first year of the championship in 1988, and featuring most recently in 1993.

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