As the flag was waved for free practise two at the Pirelli French Round, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended the opening day at the top of the timing sheets, with a lap time almost half a second faster than the rest of the field.
With the opportunity of Rea making history on Saturday, as he could become the first rider to ever take three back to back World Superbike Championships, he is remaining focused on the race with the weather also on his mind.
All Rea has to do is win the race tomorrow and he will have taken the title, and he is feeling comfortable with both his race pace and outright lap speed onboard his ZX-10RR.
However, as the weather forecast is showing a chance of rain the 31 year old has declared he must be ready to take whatever the French circuit of Magny-Cours throws at him. Rea’s time of 1.37.489 was able comfortably secure him the fastest time of the opening day in France.
“We just put the package together and the bike is working really well,” begins Rea. “We just need to decide how to hold the tyres Pirelli have brought here, we just need to decide which one we’re going to run tomorrow, we have a good idea.”
“This morning we used the hard tyre and we can be really fast with that one, but this afternoon the temperature rose quite a lot and our bike character changed.”
“I’m feeling good for the race distance and for the one lap attack, the tyre they brought here looks pretty good so let’s see tomorrow.” He added
“The weather forecast looks variable, but whatever happens we will have to be ready because tomorrow is the first opportunity we have to mathematically win this championship and that’s an exciting prospect for me but the target is to focus on the race and do the best that we can.”