The UK Worldsub was the only round in 2024 to see Jonathan Lear on the Yamaha podium, but Northern Ireland riders say that the repetition will be a “highly target” for 2025.
REA has no podium finish this season, with six-time World Superbike Champion remaining second for Yamaha, but the top three finish at Donington this weekend remains “target.”
“It’s a target,” Jonathan Leah told Crash.Net when asked if the podium was a realistic target at the 2025 UK WorldSBK.
“Whether that’s realistic or not is another question.
“” We’ve been slowing my season due to injuries.
“Qualifying has seemed tough, especially in the last few years, if you really start from anywhere outside the first sequence that compromises your race.
“So there is a lot of emphasis on qualifying this weekend, and if I could qualify, why?
“Last year, I was able to do that out of nowhere.
“My start was good. That’s what matters in Donington. It’s all about Good Friday, building momentum, building emotions, why?
“That’s a noble target, but I know.”
The importance of qualifying has been seen, in part from his poor one-lap speed this year, as he scored the best super pole results in 14th place in most Czech rounds.
“In general terms, I don’t have much confidence in connecting to the rear tire,” he explained.
“If you can build in two days of testing, then you can run rap and rap and build confidence, then you can get to the end.
“In general, my race 2 over the weekend was the strongest.
“But for most of the time I crashed on lap 2 with the rear tires of the FP1 and destroyed the bike, followed by five or six other riders on similar tires doing the same thing.
“In Misano, I sat all of the FP1 on technical (issue) and I was able to do a chrono rap at the end to make sure the bike was doing well.
“So you’re already starting with backfoot. It makes FP2 very stressful. Then you’ll throw qualifying on Saturday morning and race on Saturday afternoon.
“So if there’s no momentum or flow over the weekend, it’s much more difficult.
“That’s my story, I’ve been sitting in the first few rounds too.
“The last two rounds were tougher, and there’s a reason for that.
“Let’s have a normal weekend in Donington and Balaton and see what the middle part of this season will be.”