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Starting from the eighth box on the grid in Portimao, Jonathan Rea ended Race 1 in 15th place, thwarting the good sensations he had since the beginning of the weekend. This was due to a technical problem that considerably affected his race, leaving the rider from Northern Ireland with a bad taste in his mouth.
"I had a problem with the quickshifter so, at some point, I could no longer shift the gear electronically or was forced to do it manually. With the high gears, I had no problems. But, in downshifting, especially in corners, it was hard because the bike was nervous. From a low 1'41", I ended up lapping at 1'42"," he explained.
"This is a very difficult track to handle physically because of all the ups and downs, however, we were very strong up to that point. My R1 was behaving well, and I was able to overtake some. So it was a positive race, all in all, although there are some aspects to improve, and it's frustrating because I had everything to get a good result," he admitted.
There were two important episodes in his race. "At turn seventeen, I almost touched Van der Mark," he admitted. "For a moment, I lost the front to get more angle. But, fortunately, I saved myself. In any case, in the first seven laps, before the problem appeared, I had noticed progress in terms of frame and electronics."
In taking stock of the last events, the 1987 Cleese rider said, "In Most, qualifying went badly, because I fell on the first lap, Donington was positive and, starting Friday, I was fast even here. It's true that I didn't do a perfect lap in the Superpole, but I finished in eighth place and, until the mistake, I was in the top five. Definitely I'm starting to have more confidence in the bike and the electronics. I have a lot of experience on this track, and I can make a difference, but we still need to grow. For example, we lose too much in the first sector where there are two big accelerations. In general, the bike is behaving very well and, in the race ,it allowed me to overtake with agility. This is the first time I've felt like this since the beginning of the championship, which means that we're slowly getting there."
He definitely regrets having missed a placing. "The problem cost me at least a second a lap. Without it, I could've been the best among the Yamaha riders today. I had the pace to be in the top five or six," he said confidently.
In conlcusion, he looked towards the future and a hypothetical introduction of new aerodynamic devices. "I don't know if we'll have wings in 2025. You'd have to ask the engineers, like Andrea Dosoli. I haven't heard anything. I only know that they're working on development in the factory. We'll see during the winter tests. Did I ask for anything specific? I'm fairly new to the team, so I'm just trying to get in tune with everything, although I hope we can find more power. It's not easy at all, because the regulations require that we use homologated parts but, in other areas, we're reaching our potential. Personally, I'm only focused on providing information to the team to make progress," he concluded.
