Reigning WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea completed a race simulation in today’s second Phillip Island WorldSBK free practice and now the Kawasaki man says he just needs to fine-tune some corner exit strategies ahead of Superpole and race one tomorrow.
The Castletown man believes that a pole lap will be well inside the 1’29s after both he and fastest man Chaz Davies were able to get down to last year’s pole time using race rubber this morning and Rea has already compared some new Pirelli hoops in preparation for race one;
“The bike feels good and it was a really good first day on track. Compared to the test, the wind has picked up quite a lot and getting into turns one and two is quite difficult. Pirelli brought two new tyres for today compared to the test and we just had to understand them, the difference and back-to-back with the base tyre,” said Rea, speaking at the track.
“This afternoon, I was able to do a race simulation which lets us know where we are for tomorrow. We have another session which will let us work on some small items to balance the power with acceleration in some corners.
“I was kind to Chaz this morning and gave him a wheel for that lap but to be so close to the 1’29s on race rubber shows what an amazing job Pirelli are doing. Chaz is one of our main rivals, so it’s going to be exciting but doing one lap is different than 22. If we can do those times on race tyres, then you will need to be into the 1’29s to get on pole, so we will see."
Last year, Rea took victory in both races with a pace of high 1'31s and low 1'32s.
