Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) set a new season-best result in his second MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season with Yamaha. The Northern Irishman’s Tissot Superpole Race saw him finish P7 in the 10-lap contest, raising the bar from his pair of 10th-place results at Most. These improved placements are a positive step for the Ulsterman; however, he still feels like he has more to understand about his R1 platform to continue climbing up the timesheet.

RACE 2 MISFORTUNE: “Going into T1, normally the rear end bounces around a bit, but when it picked up and landed, I lost the front instantly, it was a strange one”

Rea’s Superpole struggles continued at the opening of Misano’s weekend action, falling down to P16 on the Saturday timesheet. Undeterred, in Sunday’s Superpole Race, the #65 jumped up the grid at lights out, making up eight positions by the exit of Turn 2 of the race’s first lap. His tussle with Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) ultimately saw the Ducati independent rider claim P6 from him, but a P7 result is still his best finish of 2025 by a margin of three positions. The #65’s Race 2 was on pace for a similar result, riding in P9 until his unfortunate lowside crash saw his race end on his 11^th Lap.

On his Misano weekend, Rea said: “For the first time I’ve been able to start on the third row, and I got some good track position in T1 obviously after the carnage with Bulega and Bassani. Everything just opened up for me, and I found myself in P6 or P7. From there, my race just sort of stayed there. Sam Lowes was coming strong at the end, and I couldn’t quite fight with him, but the bike was feeling quite good. Due to the conditions, we used the SCQ tyre, which lasted the entire race. It felt good, so the form stayed, and we came into Race 2 on a positive note. My starts on the R1 have been incredible recently, so I tried to put myself down the left side of the track, thinking I could run around the group in front, but I got squeezed wide in T1 and bottlenecked in two, so any track position I had gained, I lost in T1. From there I lost touch with the group that formed. Lecuona was just riding away from me a little bit but I was clearing guys behind, so it was lonely. Going into T1, normally the rear end bounces around a bit, but when it picked up and landed, I lost the front instantly; it was a strange one. The trajectory of the weekend had been a positive one, so it was a tough note to end on.”

FEELING OVER RESULTS: “The results are improving, but fundamentally, I still don’t understand the bike too well”

Rea’s second season with Yamaha has been a tough campaign to analyse, not only for onlookers but for Rea himself. After a busy offseason improving his physical fitness and visibly optimistic about the feeling he was developing atop his Yamaha R1, until he was dealt a tough blow in the form of his Philip Island foot injury, which ruled him out of the first three rounds of the season. His rust was plain to see at Cremona after nearly two months off the bike; however, he bounced back at Most, his pair of P10s his best results of the season at that point; and now at Misano, he has raised the bar again, landing P7 in his Tissot Superpole Race.

On whether he feels he is on a positive trajectory leaving Misano, “Yes and no, you can look at the results, but fundamentally, I still don’t understand the bike too well, especially when we go for the Superpoles, they have been my nemesis since I joined Yamaha. If you can’t put yourself in a good position straight away, the class is so tough now -there are, of course, the two guys at the front, who are having their own race within the race- but that next group is incredibly competitive. If you can’t start near the front of that it makes life tough, but Donington next is a good opportunity for us, we were quite strong there last year, I got my only podium of the year there. If we can put everything together and do all our work on Friday, there’s no reason why we can’t have a successful weekend there.”

Tune in July 11-13^th for Jonathan Rea at his home round as he battles with the rest of the field at Donington! Tune in live or watch on demand with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 30% off!