Donington Park WorldSBK: Jonathan Rea puts aside Craner fears to go fastest, “critical to get it right tomorrow”
Jonathan Rea topped the World Superbike timesheets on day one at Donington Park, but dodgy weather means he goes into a ‘crucial’ Saturday feeling ‘a bit underprepared’.
The six-time world champion defied the rain drops – and fears of joining the ‘Craner Club’ - to set the best time of the day during 11 morning laps, as WorldSBK got its first experience of the new asphalt.
Lap times were expected to drop in the afternoon, but the rain worsened after just a few minutes, meaning only Toprak Razgatlioglu and Axel Bassani were able to improve on their FP1 efforts.
Meanwhile, Rea was among the majority not to even set a flying lap time in FP2.
“I’d seen the rain and nobody else seemed to see it!” said Rea, when asked why he had done fewer FP1 laps than most his rivals.
“The track has so much grip, but my visor was really misty. And all I think about was joining the Craner Club. You think, ‘nah, no need to take any risks’.
“But the whole [FP1] session was not perfect, it was spots, but you just convinced yourself the track was OK.
“It's been a bit of a tough day because I've really only done 5 proper laps in ‘27-‘28. So I feel a bit underprepared. But we’re at the top so, it could be worse!”
The lack of Friday track time means the Kawasaki star, who arrives for his home round without a podium in the last five races, now views Saturday’s short FP3 as a “critical” session.
“I think everybody has the same chance really tomorrow because now it's critical after the 30 minutes [FP3] to take the right decisions with the bike,” he explained.
“That's going to be the crucial session.
“Riders that make good, fast and correct decisions after FP3, are going to be the ones that win the race.”
The changeable weather also means Rea expects to stick with what he knows in terms of parts and set-up.
“We brought some things from the [Aragon] test, but now with the limited time it's really hard to know if we'll continue with it,” he said. “Because tomorrow I need a bike that I really know well and I'm comfortable with to push with only one 30-minute session to set the bike up.”
Reigning world champion and runaway 2023 title leader Alvaro Bautista was only seventh fastest for Ducati, at what was one of his toughest events last year, but Rea expects the Spaniard to be fighting at the front on Saturday.
“It's clear Alvaro has a package and knowledge and everything to fight,” he said. “But I hope to be there fighting for the podium for sure. And if we can be close to fighting for the race win that will be a huge result for us.”
Rea compared the new Donington asphalt to Misano, describing it as nice and smooth, with a lot of grip.
But he added that there is a “horrible bump right on the top of the lip on the back straight” and a “join in the tarmac at the final corner, but that’s 100 times better than it was.”
However, “The biggest problem with the resurfacing is the kerbs aren't at the same level as the track. There are many areas where you would use the kerb, but it's actually sunken in.”
Rea confirmed the recent BSB round provided useful surface data for Pirelli, who “knew that the track is very grippy, very smooth but it's consuming the rear tyre, so I'm not so sure we'll see many riders using the SCX. It might also be out of the temperature range.
“For me it looks like the race tyre’s going to be the SC0. For the long race anyway, with the temperature now. But nobody knows because no one's really done much today…”
Rea’s team-mate Alex Lowes was fourth this morning and also failed to set a flying lap before the rain intensified in the afternoon.
Yamaha's Toprak Razgatlioglu was quickest in the afternoon and second fastest overall.
