JonathanRea

Jonathan Rea announced his retirement from full-time racing at the end of the 2025 campaign but his retirement didn’t last long. Two rounds into the 2026 season and he returned to the WorldSBK grid as he replaced Jake Dixon, after signing as a test rider for Honda HRC following two years at Yamaha.

Honda (2026-)

Rea signed for Japanese manufacturer Honda as a test rider for the 2026 campaign, and he was back on the WorldSBK grid at Portimao as he stood in for Jake Dixon. It means his career has come ‘full circle’ – Honda gave him his WorldSBK debut in 2008, at Portimao.

Yamaha (2024-2025)

Rea moved to Yamaha after nine unprecedented seasons with Kawasaki to replace BMW-bound Toprak Razgatlioglu. The #65 struggled throughout the year but was able to enjoy a couple of highlights, notably a pole in the wet at Assen and a Tissot Superpole Race rostrum on home soil at Donington Park. Sadly for the six-time Champion, 2025 was an injury hit campaign, and he bid farewell to full-time racing at the end of the season.

Kawasaki (2015-2023)

The Rea-Kawasaki partnership was arguably one of the greatest partnerships ever seen not just in WorldSBK but in motorsport as a whole. After moving to the green team for 2015, Rea claimed his first title with two rounds to spare before going on an astonishing, but barely believable run: he would claim six consecutive World Championships between 2015 and 2020, as well as 104 wins in his time in green which lasted until 2023. He defeated long-time rival Chaz Davies in 2015, teammate Tom Sykes in 2016, Davies again in 2017 and 2018 before resisting the threat of new kid on the block, Alvaro Bautista in 2019. The Spaniard won the first 11 races of the 2019 season as he looked to take the title away from Rea but was unable to do so. In 2020, it was another Ducati rider – this time, Scott Redding – who looked to claim the crown, but Rea once again came out on top despite the fight going to a final round shootout. In 2021, Rea finally lost the #1 plate as Toprak Razgatlioglu beat him and Redding in a stunning season-long battle before the wins really started to dry up: six in 2022 and just one in 2023 meant Rea felt he needed a change to enjoy the same success again.

Honda (2008-2014)

Rea’s first WorldSBK adventure came in 2008 as a replacement rider at Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, and he showed his pace from the off with a front-row grid slot. He converted that to fourth in Race 1 before finishing 15^th in Race 2. He remained with the team for 2009, claiming eight podiums and his first two WorldSBK wins at Misano and the Nurburgring. 10 podiums and four wins came the year after as he continued to impress in the early days of his career, consistently finishing in the top five of the Championship except in 2011 and 2013, which were disrupted by injury.

WorldSSP

Rea’s debut appearance on the world stage came in 2008 when he raced in WorldSSP for Ten Kate Honda, finishing in second place. A podium in just his fourth race showed his potential almost immediately, and he ended up with three wins and six podiums in 12 races – of course, he missed the final round of the season to make his WorldSBK debut and, as they say, the rest is history.

Before WorldSSP

Prior to his move into WorldSSP, Rea started out in motocross and was runner-up in the 60cc motocross championship before making the switch to circuit racing in 2003 in the 125cc British championship. In 2005, he was in the Superbike class in Britain on Honda machinery as he was in 2006 and 2007, taking his first podiums in the former and wins in the latter as he finished second in the Championship before his move to WorldSSP.