Rea goes from Superbike race legend to development ace with Honda

Now retired from the sport he made his name in, World Superbike legend Jonathan Rea participated in the series' recent pre-season test at the Jerez circuit in Spain as a Honda HRC test rider. The 38-year-old is the most accomplished WorldSBK racer of all time with six world championships and 119 race victories but is highly motivated in his new development role with Honda, where he'll help hone the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

“The information I’ve gathered helps me asses the bike’s strengths and weaknesses,” said Rea, who raced with Honda in WorldSBK from 2008 through 2014. “Honda is working hard on every aspect of the bike, and I’ve rarely had so many technicians around me.”

While he signed off as a racer at the end of last season, Rea is still paying the physical toll from his legendary career,

“I had surgery on my foot just a couple of days ago to remove the plates and screws that I had in there since Philip Island last year," related Rea. "It has all been really plaguing me with pain. We removed them and I’m back to riding. It has been a pretty quiet February and then we start testing again at the beginning of March.

“It was nice to be back because it’s in a different role, you know? I get to work with all the engineers. The bike is really good in some areas, but there is room to improve in some. So I’m excited to use my experience to try and help the project.”

Rea explained how he ended up back at Honda in a test rider role.

“They have speaking to me for the last couple years trying to see if I’d be keen to come on their program to help them with development. When I knew in my head that I didn’t want to race full-time, it seemed like a really logical step," he said. "I started my career there at Honda Superbike in 2009. That was my first full season with them. It was nice to sort of complete the circle and go back there to Honda. It’s a full HRC project, which is nice. I mean the bike looks sick. It is full of areas we need to improve, but I’m looking forward to rolling my sleeves up and getting on with it."

And while now retired from the sport as a full-time competitor, Rea is not ruling out competing in select Superbike races this season.

“There's going to be some opportunities for me to race, as well this year, so we just keep an open mind to that," he said. "There might be some possibilities of wild cards. I’m going to do some testing for the Suzuka 8 Hour race, as well. I might get involved with that. Right now we’re quite open to do many things, but of course the main part of my job will be testing and development work."

Rea is both enthused and excited to be a full-time test rider for Honda.

"I’m excited. I don’t have the stress now about thinking about round one," he said. "I get spend a lot more time at home. But I get to tick the box of riding pretty nice bikes around the world. Right now and exactly where I’m at in life, this is a perfect opportunity for me.

“I’ve got a good relationship with the engineers already. Of course riding for two rival manufacturers in the past, Kawasaki and Yamaha, they value my feedback. I always say it’s an underdog project because the very last time Honda won a dry race was with me in 2014. Honda deserves to be at the front and I hope to be able to help them do that. At least put them on the right path. They are going to have to work hard because all the manufacturers in World Superbike are working really hard. If we can try and help in some ways, then there is no reason why Honda can’t succeed.”

Although he won’t compete full-time, Rea has kept an eye on everything and sees a highly competitive Superbike season shaping up.

“Nicolo Belega will have to start as favorite,” said Rea. “He was really strong last year. Aside from that, it’s all to play for. There are a lot of rookies involved. It’s super competitive and the manufacturers are working hard. Yeah, it’s going to be a cool championship to watch.”

Will he feel like the world is going by without him when the WorldSBK Championship lifts off at the Philip Island circuit in Australia in mid-February, or is he OK being a retired six-time champion?

“No, I’m pretty happy where I’m now at, mate,” answered Rea. “Because I’ve been there and done that, you know? I can watch on as a fan now and of course when the championship comes back to Europe after Australia, I’ll definitely go to some races and try to help the Honda guys from the sidelines. Honda will have two rookies in the class, Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra, and it will take them a minute to get completely comfortable and for those guys to be at the front. The team is working hard and I’m sure that they’ll be able to demonstrate their potential.”

Rea reflected on the body of work that made up his extraordinary WorldSBK racing career.

“Yeah, I mean it’s pretty surreal to think that I have all the accolades that I’ve collected, but it just seemed normal, to be honest,” reckoned Rea. “But now when I look back on it when I’m out of the sport, it was an era of motorcycle racing. Like the Rossi era in MotoGP or the Fogerty era in Superbike, I had my era. That was super nice and it was nice that so many people said nice things about my career, as well. Yeah, I’m very proud of what we achieved.

"I’m still working my way back to full fitness, but when I get there I’m going to be in a super good place. That’s priority now and that’s to get fit and strong and to be able to ride these bikes at 100 percent. I want to be on the same pace as the race riders to give good feedback. Honda is a nice company and they want to win. When I first started getting into bikes it was HRC and Mick Doohan and Colin Edwards and the Castrol Honda and Valentino Rossi and HRC. It seemed like everything Honda was doing, they did it to win. It’s a huge project that I’m on. The test team is almost as big as the race team. With the effort going in, Honda means business. Hopefully I can use my experience to help make the CBR1000 better.”