A fortnight ago, Jonathan Rea officially started his adventure within the Kawasaki Racing Team by jumping on the Ninja ZX-10R for a two-day test at MotorLand Aragon. The 27 year old Briton also took part in a further five day test at Jerez last week, which was unfortunately hampered by rain. Rea knows there is still a lot of work to do but his first impressions are nevertheless positive and the lap-times set at both Aragon and Jerez quite encouraging.

“I’m very, very excited because it’s a completely new challenge for me,” said Jonathan Rea. The initial impression with the bike is quite positive, it’s a very user friendly machine to use so I’m enjoying it. I’m intrigued to find the full potential of the ZX-10R. The contract was announced not long ago but I’ve known the people who are working with me for a long time. My crew chief Pere has set up a great communication not just with him but also with my mechanics, we have been in constant contact so at Aragon it didn’t feel like the first day at school, I was already feeling familiar with all the names and faces. Surely we have to work together a lot to build a working relationship because I was used to a different way of working and their previous rider was really different from me.”

Rea knows that he will have a great opponent in his new teammate Tom Sykes, who enjoyed great success aboard the Ninja ZX-10R in recent years. “If you look at the last three seasons, Tom and the bike have been the most competitive in the series,” added Rea. “His level is very high and I can learn a lot, especially about how to use the bike’s full potential. The relationship between Tom and myself has always been a good one, we attended each other’s weddings years ago. It’s good to work together, but when the competition starts and the season starts we all ride for the same team but working independently to try and come out on top.”
 

After securing his best championship finish in 2014, a third place overall, Rea thinks he is ready to finally challenge for the title with his new bike.
“I think there is still a lot of technique I need to work on,” he continued. “Mentally, right now I am ready to win but in the recent past few years for a world championship the package has not been exactly how I would like it to be ready to challenge for the world title. Maybe when I first joined the world championship the package was ready, but I wasn’t. But I feel now that I am ready. We need to get the best out of the bike and we will see.”