Jonathan Rea tops the time sheets in the wet conditions in Jerez.

Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli undertook two days of pre-season testing at Circuito de Jerez, running a full day in dry conditions yesterday before continuing to work in the wet in preparation for the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship today. 

On Day 1, Rea completed 50 laps as the Northern Irishman wasted no time getting back up to speed on the Yamaha R1 WorldSBK despite lingering damp patches in the morning and strong gusts of wind in the afternoon. The six-time WorldSBK champion continued to work in the wet today, completing 40 laps with a fastest time of 1:53.058 in the inclement conditions.

Teammate Locatelli clocked up 70 laps on the 4.423km circuit on Wednesday, including a long run in the afternoon, plus a further 19 laps for a wet “shakedown” on Day 2.

Neither rider completed a qualifying simulation or time attack, focusing together with Yamaha’s engineers on key development items for the new season and set-up configuration across chassis and electronics packages.

The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team travels directly to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portimão) for further development testing from Monday, 27 January.

Jonathan Rea – 1:40.368
“It’s been a positive test and it’s nice to be back – yesterday we got off to a really good start and wasted no time in getting up to speed, I felt good on my Yamaha R1 from the first laps and step-by-step we’ve just built on that. Pace was okay, we didn’t complete any time attacks and worked through the development programme. Held up in the garage a couple of times with just some small issues but I was satisfied with the first day! Woke up today and the weather was bad obviously, so we only managed wet laps and I did enjoy riding round familiarising myself more with the R1 in these conditions and honestly, we made some really positive changes! Big thanks to the crew for their efforts, two days of good information and now we more to Portugal in quick succession to keep putting the package together for Australia.”

Andrea Locatelli – 1:40.989
“Even with the wind yesterday, we tried to ride a lot in the dry conditions and focused on completing a long run to re-establish a good feeling with my R1 after the winter. Today we didn’t do a lot of laps, but we tried some things on the bike to be a bit more ready for Portimão next week. It was helpful to do a small shakedown to check how everything is working in the wet, for example electronics and chassis set-up after yesterday and we will see! We have Portimão to work further, complete more distance and prepare for Phillip Island. The changing conditions here in Jerez were strange, a lot of wind – warm yesterday and today, wet. The most important thing is to continue building the feeling with my R1 and then we will have a clearer idea, working well towards our objectives for the 2025 season.”

Featured Image: Pata Yamaha WorldSBK.