RiderTua.com – Andrea Dosoli feels that Yamaha is responsible for Jonathan Rea’s bad results.. Jonathan Rea’s debut with Yamaha in the 2024 World Superbike Championship did not go smoothly. The 37 year old rider only started 11th in Superpole and crossed the finish line in 17th position in the first race at Phillip Island a week ago. The disaster continued with a crash in the second race. And after the start of the season, Rea became 1 of only 5 regular drivers who had not been able to score championship points.
Yamaha feels responsible for the disaster that befell Rea. Nobody expected a difficult start to the season for Rea at Yamaha. From the first lap at Phillip Island on the new asphalt, he didn’t have a good feel for the bike and despite intensive efforts from his crew, the Yamaha team didn’t see any improvement in his feel until Sunday. “The bad crash on Tuesday didn’t help and I’m probably not wrong when I say that the pressure of a difficult start with the 6-time world champion didn’t help the crew’s work either,” complained Andrea Dosoli.
Andrea Dosoli: Yamaha is responsible for Rea’s poor results
With this, Andrea Dosoli apparently wants to show that mistakes also happen within the team. Rea’s teammate, Andrea Locatelli, proved that the Yamaha R1 is basically successful on the Australian track by finishing twice in 2nd place and crashing once while in a promising position.
It is certain that this was one of Jonathan’s worst race weekends in the World Superbike Championship. “We have to take responsibility for this because we didn’t give Jonathan what he needed at Phillip Island. We have to learn from these difficulties and mistakes. Obviously there is a lot of time for improvement in terms of the set-up of the bike, but in my opinion also the way it works,” said the European Yamaha boss.
Before the opening race in Europe, specifically in Barcelona, on March 22-24, a 2-day test will take place in Spain. So Rea is expected to be more competitive. Even though his entire crew, supported by all Yamaha engineers, Rea’s performance has not improved… but they will work harder than ever to be better prepared for the upcoming test. “We have 2 days in Barcelona to adjust and get back on track so we can start the 2024 season well with a race in Barcelona. Jonathan has all the talent and skills, we know the bike works, so we know this can be a successful partnership, ” concluded Dosoli.
