Indonesian WorldSBK: Jonathan Rea: ‘No excuses really, sorry’ for incident with Philipp Oettl

Jonathan Rea was unable to fight back in Race 1 of the Indonesian WorldSBK round following a Superpole session that saw him have a lap time deleted and a grid penalty applied due to blocking Philipp Oettl.
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki WorldSBK Mandalika 2023
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki WorldSBK Mandalika 2023

The six-time WorldSBK champion was dropped from fourth to f🌺ifth after improving his time under yello🐼w flags, however, fifth then became eighth when he was deemed to have blocked the GoEleven Ducati rider.

Then in Race 1, Re🍃a was part of an early battle at the front before quickly suffering with a lack of grip and confiden♏ce with his front-end.

The Kawasaki rider made several mistakes under braking which resulted in him going wide, while it also cost him positions to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Xavi Vierge and 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Dominique Aegerter at different stages.

Foll𝔉owing his difficult Sunday in Phillip Island, Rea’s early hopes of being a title contender took another hit as Alvaro B🌜autista took victory for the fourth time in four races this season. 

"Difficult day," said Rea. "With the lap I got cancelled in the Suꦐperpo🐓le and then the penalty I got for being in the way of Philipp Oettl - I’m really sorry about that. I was actually quite on it on that lap but Bassani disturbed me in the corners before and then I had to roll out of the gas. 

"As I was rolling out of the gas I looked around and he was there. Big apology 🦂and no excuses really. Just got involved in that melee with Rinaldi at turn one, but was there and I got back to Locatelli where I thought I was going to race; with Locat꧟elli and Toprak. 

"All the🌜 sectors were quite okay except sector two with this secti꧒on of right handers. I lost all my confidence going through there. 

"The angle on the gas, the front was just moving and you would commit to turn seve🌠n with no front stability to turn there. It was just a fight for position and not great for us. That was my race."

Jonathan Rea , race 1, Indonesian WorldSBK, 4 March
Jonathan Rea , race 1, Indonesian WorldSBK, 4 March

Although Rea managed to finish ahead of teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Alex Lowes, the latter showed better pac💃e for much of the race and appeared to not have quite the same front-end issues as Rea.

However, ♕Rea remains upbeat about turning things around after saᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚying his ZX-10RR works ‘seriously well’ when in the right window regarding set-up.

"When my bike is working wellᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ, it’s seriously working well, has grip, everything is in balance and I can m🦩ake the difference," added Rea. 

"But when the front tyre is destroyed you can’t ꦍmake the difference. You can’t push the bike like you want to.&nb🍬sp;

"It’s a balancing act to bring the bike home. We have to take some responsibility for not getting the set-up perfect right now, but I still feel we’re getting everything out of the ﷽bike when it’s good."

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