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During an interview on the WorldSBK Instagram account, 2004 and 2007 WorldSBK Champion James Toseland discussed the competitive nature of the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and the chances of reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claiming his sixth consecutive title.

When asked about Rea’s chances of winning the 2020 title, Toseland said: “He’s so difficult to beat. The one thing that has been incredible with Jonny since he switched from Ten Kate to Kawasaki has been the consistency. You can argue about the depth of the field in a couple of those years, but you can’t argue with the pace or consistency he’s shown to win all five of them. It’s outstanding. Don’t underestimate how fit Jonny is to ride over 220mph for 45 minutes, with three races in a weekend now and not just two, and finish on the podium over 80% of the time… it’s unheard of in any championship.”

Toseland then expanded on Rea’s chances by discussed the competitive Championship. He said: “The new Hondas argoing to be difficult to beat Jonny because although they’re very fast, they don’t seem to be putting the power down very easily, it looks a bit aggressive. The Ducatis, at the minute, I think Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) has got a definite chance of pushing Jonny for the Championship this year. But there’s still a couple of tracks that Scott has not done much time on, but are we going to go to those? If we don’t go to those, the Scott and Jonny battle could be amazing.”

Discussing Championship leader Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Toseland said: “Where’s Alex found that form from? All winter we never really saw anything from him, we didn’t hear much that he was pushing Jonny around. Then he leaves Phillip Island leading the Championship and it’s something like that that Alex needs to get a bit of extra confidence.

“To be Rea’s teammate is not an easy thing. It’s very difficult to go into a team that’s so established, so structured around that rider because he is the man, it doesn’t really matter who’s number two when you’ve got that 80% podium rate. Alex has gone in there and had a tough winter to get used to this bike, because he’s been on the other bike for so long and went to Phillip Island and got a win. He might have just sparked something off."

British rider Toseland also mentioned Turkish sensation Toprak Razgatlioglu, saying: “The two Kawasakis, the two Ducatis, Yamaha with Toprak Razgatlioglu… what a rider he was after all the years on the Kawasaki and coming on to the Yamaha. I think, depending on which tracks we race it, this year could be really, really open.”

You can watch the full interview on the WorldSBK Instagram account to watch topics such as Toseland’s career, his teammate Regis Laconi and working with FIM Supersport World Championship rider Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing).

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