Rea: “I know Imola from watching the Edwards and Bayliss battle”

Jonathan Rea has revealed he can’t wait to test at Imola next week as he feels like he already knows the track from watching Troy Bayliss’ and Colin Edwards’ epic title battle back in 2002 at the Italian venue.

Rea who has never raced at the circuit will get two days onboard his Ten Kate Honda where he has a host of set-up and suspension components to test.

Speaking to MCN, Rea said:
“I think I already know where the track goes from watching the videos of Troy and Colin back in the day. I’m looking forward to the test and it will give us a chance to carry on working in the direction with the new suspension.”

Rea won his debut WSB race at Misano first time out on the new Ohlins Andreani suspension after the team ended a long affiliation with WP. The young Brit was hoping for another strong performance at Donington, but the results didn’t materialise.

He said:
“If you look at the results sheet from Donington it wasn’t flattering but I was losing all my time in the last split. Through the first two splits I was top five all weekend where as I was lucky to be in the top 15 in the last one.
“I’m really optimistic with the development we’ve done on the bike. At Misano first time out we landed on our feet and won the race, we just need to understand how we can get the bike working like that at every track we go to. Andreani will be bringing some new suspension for us to try, but in the last few rounds we’ve proved we are right there.”