SBK, Rea: "I thought I could be there to fight for the podium, but in FP2 I had no more grip"

It wasn't a simple afternoon for Jonathan Rea at the Phillip Island track. After a good first session, which saw him finish in 4th place less than three tenths from the top, the Kawasaki man was unable to go any better than 14th place in FP2, losing more than 1.5s from steamroller Bautista, the undisputed leader of this Friday.

A fifth place in the combined standings is not bad, but the six -time world champion expected something more after the good feelings with which his day had started: “In the morning I was quite positive, to be honest. When I saw the session, I thought that the bike and I was there to fight for the podium. But then in the afternoon, with the warmer track, I felt from the very first lap that I had no good grip and there was no traction at the rear - the 36-year-old said - unfortunately, the tyre allocation is so stringent that we don’t have the possibility of trying other tyres, if we want to keep some more for the race. It is a strategy to save the tyres at the rear, because there may be several red flag situations here, also because of the birds ".

What went wrong in FP2?

“We had some problems with the set-up, and I had zero edge grip, because we had a lot of spinning, and the tyre couldn’t even warm up on the right shoulder. We are not far away, but the grip is the main problem" explained Rea, whose goal is to be able to find the feelings of the morning again. “By fitting new tyres and slightly changing the set-up we shouldn’t be too far away. On Monday, Tuesday and this morning we had more adherence, while now we are struggling to lap in 1m32s and it doesn't make any sense - he said - we must try to understand what happened, put together all the pieces and prepare a plan for tomorrow ".

Bautista looks awesome, but could a change in the weather be of any help for Rea?

"No. I honestly prefer it when it’s a bit cooler. Last year we tended to struggle more when it was warmer. If we forget a bit about today's session, I prefer it to be cooler tomorrow, but I don't think the tarmac temperature will be 48°C like today. I guess it will be very hot after lunch" said the Northern Irishman, who admitted that he did not feel much difference in the character of his Ninja, with the changes made for 2023 by the Akashi manufacturer.