Jonathan Rea got back to winning ways today… and what a victory! In a race that started on wet tarmac, the Briton then chose the right moment to change tires in the pit lane and from there recovered position after position until claiming first place in race one. weekend in Australia. He thanked the team for the speed with which they acted on the tire change and also awarded the victory to the Kawasaki team.
#65 started by talking about the preparation for the race and explained that the planning had been done for the different scenarios, while talking about the start of the action on the track:
– We knew to expect anything today, so we had a plan to cover all the bases, and then it was about me being calm on the bike and not making stupid decisions. In the wet, I didn’t feel like myself at first. I was able to pass Toprak on the brakes in the first turn and was just able to pull him up, but ended up doing a bit of grass tracking. I managed to catch up with the leaders and then I told myself to drive slowly, because the track was going to dry out and I didn’t want to waste my tyres.
Then he saw his teammate take the lead, which prompted a reaction and a decision: return to the team and change tires: ‘Alex [Lowes] I came in with a really good pace and at that point I said, ‘OK, roll the dice and let’s go to the pits.’ I didn’t think it was a risky decision, but I probably could have done a lap earlier than me. I waved my team down the straight and then committed to entering the pit lane.
From there it was a question of recovery… and control: “After we joined, I was just riding towards my pitboard. It was a real team victory today. I think we completely nailed the pit stop and didn’t waste a second. A big congratulations to the team because they did the job very well and they are as much a part of this victory as I am”.
