Jonathan Rea feels there is one key area for him and Yamaha to improve before securing Super Pole at Estoril World SBK.
Rea said he felt good from the start at the Portuguese circuit and had positive first impressions from the development version of the SC1 front tire (the softer of the two compounds available) that Pirelli debuted at Estoril at World Superbike this weekend.
“I felt really good from the first lap,” Jonathan Rea said in an interview with WorldSBK.com after FP2 in Estoril.
“I just brought the bike finished at Aragon and it felt really good.
“Then as I was trying to understand the different tire options, Pirelli brought me a new front tire and I had to evaluate it.
“The feel is a little different between the standard SC1 tires and the new development tires. To be honest, the development tires have a very strong feel. When I raced with them, they were fast and stable.”
If there’s one thing Rea wants to find out overnight, it’s performance on the edge of the tires.
“Just put our heads together and decide on that tire choice tonight and try to improve the bike a little bit more. We’re looking for edge grip,” he said.
“That’s the key area we have to improve. The bike stops well and changes direction well in the agile parts, so we’re just looking for a little more grip.”
Rea was able to maintain Nicolo Brega’s pace for a few laps in his first run in FP2 before falling back.
“I think that’s our pace, our rhythm right now,” Ray explained. “I need to look a little more.
“To be fair, Brega was right in front of me during the first part of the race simulation, so I was able to benefit from the slipstream for laps four, five, six and seven.
“But as soon as you find your rhythm, it’s hard to maintain it without dropping drag to turn one corner, and you go into tire management mode, energy management mode, trying to get it done.
“It’s hard to see ‘lap 15’ on the board because there are no points[available]. It’s going to be a long session!”
The Northern Irish rider feels both Brega and Toprak Razgatlioglu are “in a different race” to the rest, but feels the battle behind them is one he could be a part of.
“I haven’t really looked into (the chronological analysis) of all the other riders, so I don’t know where I fit in,” he said.
“It would be nice to think we could be in the top five, but we don’t really know where we are. We haven’t analyzed everyone right now.”
“Certainly, the two guys at the front are running a different race, Toprak (Razgatlioglu) and Nico (Nicolo Brega), their rhythm is incredible.
“But I think it’s going to be a battle after that, so I want to be a part of it.”