With four WorldSBK titles in a row, the question inevitably was asked at Magny-Cours if this year was Jonathan Rea’s best ever?
“The season is not finished, so we need to really reflect on that after Qatar,” said Rea. “In the last weeks we have been talking in the team about big targets, and as always the main target is to win the riders’ world championship. In the last weeks we were getting close and especially after Portimao we came in knowing that we can win the championship here, and the only way it wouldn’t happen is if we made big mistakes and we threw it away.”
Rea also indicated his next ambition, which may take this season to be his best ever, in his eyes.
“Last year was a dream, the best season I ever had,” said Rea. “A points record, 16 race wins, so that is the target - 556 points. We will see if we can achieve that at the end of Qatar. In life you always have to set small targets and try to be better ever year. I think the biggest benefit with riding with a great team like KRT, and inspirational engineers at KHI, is that we never give up. We never settle for just winning.
“In the winter time we came out with ‘Ninja Spirit.’ Never leave any stone unturned and working to be better. I think we carried that spirit through the season really well. The season is not finished; we still want to finish in Qatar with good results and good memories and look towards 2019.”
Rea can also break another record or two this year, but only if he wins every single remaining race. Doug Polen won 17 races not long after WorldSBK had grown to become a permanent entity in global racing. But for Rea, that peak is not in his thoughts, it appears.
“Doug Polen’s record I think will be very, very, very difficult,” he said, “It is certainly not a record I have my eyes on.”
Rea made even more history when he joined another WorldSBK legend, Troy Corser, at the very top of the all time podium rankings. Corser and Rea have 130 podiums each (as of Saturday 29th September 2018 at least) and Rea could go one better just 24 hours or so after his latest title win.
