Rea defends Jake Dixon: “He wanted to make a difference too soon”

11th place in the combined timesheets from FP1 and FP2, just under 0.8 seconds behind the fastest rider, Nicolo Bulega (Ducati): during his active career, this would have been a disappointing Friday for record-breaking world champion Jonathan Rea. But since he retired – and now works as a test rider for Honda – his perspective has changed.

The Honda Fireblade is still a long way from being a winning package, but Rea was 0.367 and 0.757 seconds faster than his team-mates Jake Dixon (16th) and Somkiat Chantra (22nd), underlining that, at 39, he is still very quick.

Jonathan Rea in Donington

Foto: gold & goose

Honda Racing Corporation, responsible for all factory entries from the world’s largest motorbike manufacturer, held a test at Donington Park in June. “That obviously helped me get off to a better start on Friday and find my rhythm more quickly,” Rea told a small group of journalists. “The basic set-up of our bike was already okay during the test; in certain sections, I’ve never felt so comfortable at Donington. In other areas, we need to improve significantly – these are also clear to us. We’re taking it step by step and fine-tuning what we have. We’re not fighting at the front, but with the data from Jake, Chantra and me, we’re learning faster and can provide the engineers with precise information.”

“It’s not difficult to get this motorbike into the working window,” the Northern Irishman explained. “But if we were racing on Monday, we’d be much better than we were on Sunday. Some bikes are fast and reach their limit straight away. With our bike, you have to delve deep into the electronics to nail the set-up. We can make constant improvements, but compared to our rivals, they’re small.”

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Dixon crashed at the start of FP1

On his return to England, Jake Dixon suffered the same mishap as during his aborted comeback at Aragon at the end of May: after just over ten minutes, he crashed in FP1, losing valuable practice time as a result. Rea defends him: “He’s very talented, but sometimes the reality of riding the bike frustrates him. Then he tries to make the difference too soon. It’s obvious he’s quick; his time in Sector 1 is incredible and a good benchmark for me. There’s no substitute for laps on the bike; you can train as much as you like in the gym. He’s missed half the season and is now getting better lap by lap.”