Jonathan Rea to Miss Opening Round of 2025 WorldSBK season
Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) will miss the opening round of the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship after a crash on the first day of testing at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
The Northern Irishman fell on the exit of Turn 2 in the closing stages of Monday’s first two-hour test session.
The 38-year-old was taken to the circuit medical centre before being transferred to Cowes for further assessment. There it was confirmed he had sustained multiple fractures to the left foot.
Rea will take no further part in testing or the upcoming race weekend at Phillip Island in what is a tough blow for the six-time Superbike World Champion.
Speaking after the Day 1’s action concluded, Pata Maxus Yamaha Team Principal, Paul Denning, said: “It wasn’t an easy day on Jonathan’s side and a bitterly disappointing day for him and his crew and for everybody in the Yamaha WorldSBK project. We’ve had such a step over the winter with Jonathan and his confidence and comfort on the R1, and his ability to be consistent and smooth and get the best out of the bike. Everything was looking normal today, but Phillip Island has a habit of biting you quite hard sometimes. It’s a fast and very high grip circuit, but such a high grip circuit means when the grid releases… we’ve seen today many quite violent accidents, and Jonathan got unlucky with his left foot getting caught up in the bike and he’s broken some bones in the left foot. The next steps aren’t exactly clear, but the basic plan is to get back to the UK as quickly as possible and to have some surgery and start the recovery process.”
Denning also discussed whether Portimao was a realistic target for Rea’s return, saying: “At this stage, it’s difficult to say. I’d prefer not to say. He’s seeing a specialist here on Wednesday before he goes home to get, let’s say, a full initial report and understanding of the injury. After we have that and after surgery is planned, let’s see, but Portimao is not so far away so I think it’s going to be a big challenge.”
Jonathan Rea
“Honestly, it was going so well – no issues, good plan, started fast in the top four or five, working through and put my first fresh set of tyres in during the last 20 minutes, and on my first flying lap I just lost the rear marginally and then it gripped again abruptly. It kicked me up and I landed on the bike again, then it sort of threw me over – that was fine, I landed fine, but the bike was cartwheeling and it landed on my foot. Took quite a lot of damage, so now I’m just going through the process. It isn’t possible to operate immediately because of the swelling and we’re speaking to a few different consultants about surgery and timeframes. I don’t know much right now – everything felt so smooth and we made a small step forward on the bike, I’m just gutted you know. It doesn’t take much in racing to just keep that snowball effect and keep it rolling forward. We had a good winter test and it’s just been undone, but it could have been so much worse – we’ll try and be back stronger. It’s day by day really, first we will speak to some professionals, but I’m gutted.”
