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Rea returns to scene of debut world championship win at Brno

Tuesday, 5 June 2018 13:04 GMT

Reigning world champion looking forward to the Czech battle

Automotodrom Brno holds precious memories for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), as the British rider heads back to track which saw him take his debut victory on the world stage, in WorldSSP back in 2008. 10 years later, Rea is on the verge of making history in the Czech Republic.

Sitting on 59 WorldSBK victories, one more will see the Northern Irishman break the overall victory record, taking him over 60. One of these 59 victories was around Brno, back in 2010 with Honda and Rea is now looking forward to heading back to Eastern Europe with Kawasaki. Following a two day test here in April, Rea and his team were able to leave feeling happy with both the one lap and race pace they found with the ZX-10RR, and are now in a positive shape ahead of the Acerbis Czech Round.

Looking forward to racing around the circuit once again – with an array of elevation changes and wide corners, Rea will look at continuing to stretch out his 64 point lead: “I’m so excited to go back and race at Brno as it’s one of those wide open proper race circuits with great elevation changes and character. We tested there a few weeks ago and that will certainly give us a head start when it comes to setup on Friday. During the two days we had different weather conditions. We were competitive over one lap, and also consistently, so I’m feeling good about the weekend.”

Having never raced around Brno with Kawasaki, the three time champion has fond memories of races here in the past: “I’ve had some great races in Brno in the past. It’s where I won my first World Championship race, in the Supersport class, and I also had a great duel with Max Biaggi in 2010 in WorldSBK. The target this weekend is simple, we are aiming for the top step.”

Don’t miss a minute of the WorldSBK action at Brno, and see if Rea can take his 60th victory all with the WorldSBK VideoPass.