Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) suffered several fractures in his left foot earlier this week as a result of a crash in Monday’s Official Test for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. The six-time Champion was taken to the medical centre and was diagnosed with five fractures in his left foot after a big highside crash at the Turn 2 Southern Loop. He came down hard as he slid off the track, while his bike flipped through the air close to him, eventually hitting his left foot. After receiving his diagnosis, Rea returned home to Northern Ireland on Wednesday, where her met with Dr. Michael McMullan in Belfast and underwent successful surgery to stabilise the broken bones.

Rea was ruled out the Australian Round and, after undergoing surgery, will also miss Portimao testing on March 14^th-15^th and the subsequent round over the 28-30^th of March. The injury will come as a big blow to the Pata Maxus Yamaha team, which was showing clear signs of improvement with Rea aboard the bike, claiming a P1 at a testing day of a rain-affected test day in Jerez.

Speaking about his recovery post-surgery, Johnathan Rea spoke on the surgery and how his last few days have been. “I would like to thank Dr Michael McMullan and his team at the Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast for the urgency and care to deal with my foot injury. After reviewing the scans from my crash in Australia we made the decision to fly home directly and perform surgery to stabilise and fix the injuries in my foot. The surgery was successful and I will continue my recovery at home with my medical team. I want to thank my team, my family and of course all my fans who have been sending me positive messages during these difficult days.”

Niccolo Canepa, Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager spoke on what the injury means for his team and how things had been going prior to the injury. “We are missing Jonathan here in Australia, as he travelled to the opening round of the season fully motivated and with a growing confidence in the Yamaha R1, only to be sidelined by the testing crash. Unfortunately, the recovery time for the injury he sustained means he will not be able to race in Portimão next month. We extend our best wishes to Jonathan for a speedy recovery and hope to see him back soon.”

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