Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing manager Andrea Dosoli says Jonathan Rea’s recent injury setback was ‘tough’ on the World Superbike star, who made his return at Aragon in Spain last weekend.

Rea sustained a deep laceration to his right thumb after a first-lap crash in the opening race at Magny-Cours in France at round eight of the championship at the beginning of September.

The six-time champion was forced to withdraw from the rest of the weekend in France and underwent surgery before flying home to Northern Ireland.

Rea missed the following round at Cremona in Italy – a new venue on the WSBK calendar this year – before being passed fit to compete at the 10th round at Aragon.

placeholder image — Pata Prometeon Yamaha World Superbike rider Jonathan Rea returned from injury at Aragon in Spain. Picture: Tony Goldsmith

The 37-year-old finished 14th in the first race, 12th in the Superpole race and 13th in the final race of the weekend at the Spanish circuit on the Pata Prometeon Yamaha.

Rea said it had been a ‘super-difficult weekend’, admitting afterwards: “Our pace wasn’t good enough, so it was a bit frustrating and a tough weekend overall.”

The 119-time race winner is 14th in the standings with two rounds to go in his first season with Yamaha following his decision to leave Kawasaki.

Dosoli, who has been promoted to the role of motorsport manager at Yamaha Motor Europe and will begin his new job on November 1, said he expected ‘better results’ overall at Aragon, particularly from Rea’s team-mate Andrea Locatelli.

“We were pleased and happy to see Jonathan back on track this weekend, his injury has been healing quite well so while it has been tough on him, he has managed the situation well,” he said.

“For sure we expected better results in WorldSBK this weekend, the reality is the results were lower than the potential expressed, mainly by Andrea Locatelli.

“WorldSBK is very competitive at the minute, as shown by Superpole with 13 riders within one second of each other, on one of the longest tracks on the calendar. When it is like this, you cannot afford to not be getting 100% out of your package.”

Dosoli said the full potential of the Yamaha R1 had not been fully exploited and stressed more hard work was needed to improve the overall package ahead of the final two rounds of the championship in October.

“We did not fully exploit the potential of the bike,” he said. “It is a matter of fact that we are clearly losing in one sector, but we also did not seem to be recovering the time lost in the sectors where the bike is strong, which we were able to do last year.

“We need to work with what is in our hands, we need to try to improve the package, especially in the areas where the R1 is known for being strong.

“There is work to be done to get 100% out of the current package, especially considering the current level of the class. We need to keep our heads down and work hard to improve the package overall.”

The penultimate round takes place at Estoril in Portugal from October 11-13.