The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is underway at round four of the season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round. The first ever race winner in WorldSBK at this track was Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), but the six-time World Champion has had mixed form over the years as a general pattern. 2023 looked to offer something different, but a difficult day one may see him fight for the podium with all he’s worth.

The Ulsterman was fast in the morning session and his race pace was decent in comparison to those around him, although reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was in a league of his own. Rea said he had “new items” to test with regards to the chassis, in order to manage front tyre consumption of his ZX-10RR a bit better, although he couldn’t quite manage that, and it resulted in a tricky Friday.

Talking about the opening day, Rea stated: “It’s hard to say because, in the morning session in the cold conditions, I felt like I didn’t enjoy the bike or have a good feeling, but I was quite fast. I was also consistent compared to our rivals so that gave a little bit of a strange feeling. In the afternoon, we tried the race simulation. My speed wasn’t fast enough. I had some issues stopping the bike and turning in. With the different parts we have, it’s not something we can change in five minutes back to the base setup that we tested with here. A bit of a waste session. I threw some softer tyres, the SCX on the rear and the new SC0 front tyre, and I was able to make a lap time which was respectable. We gained some information but not positive information today.

“Looking at his pace, no chance. They have such an advantage at this track. It suits them and he’s riding very well. For me, we just need to improve in the long corners. The bike needs to turn much better. In the shorter corners, I’m trying to force the bike to turn which is also destroying the front tyre. The combination of circuit, temperature and everything is not the most suitable for our ZX-10RR but that doesn’t mean we won’t give up. We have to keep working, trying to find a way and we can aim for the podium. If we put everything together, that’s a realistic target but, from this point, it seems like a long way.”

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