Jonathan Rea received a timely shot in the arm after an encouraging weekend at the penultimate World Superbike round at Estoril in Portugal as the six-time champion proclaimed he won’t ‘give up’ on his Yamaha ambitions.
The Northern Ireland rider has struggled in the 2024 season after leaving Kawasaki to join the Pata Prometeon Yamaha team, replacing Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu in the blue livery, who made the switch to the factory BMW outfit.
Razgatlioglu sealed a double in Portugal to open a lead of 46 points at the top of the Championship with one round left at Jerez in Spain.
By contrast, 37-year-old Rea is in an unfamiliar 13th in the standings, with the record 119-time race winner’s only podium in 2024 coming in the Superpole race at Donington Park in the summer.
Rea, though, feels he is beginning to make promising progress with the Yamaha R1 after finishing fifth in Saturday’s opening race at Estoril before improving to fourth in the final race on Sunday.
With three races of 2024 remaining, Rea is now targeting similar top-five results at Jerez before regrouping over the winter in readiness for a much stronger challenge in 2025.
Rea – 22nd in the Superpole race after slipping off – said: “P5 and P4 results in the long races is far and away our best weekend and something to build on.
“If we look at the progress I’ve made and the team has made in these last few rounds, coming back from injury in Aragon and to rebound here was certainly positive.
“We have reason to be optimistic, we can’t give up on this, and especially now at the end of the season, we’re starting to see some fruits from all our labour.
“I really would love to carry on this kind of result, battling inside the top five again would be a good finish to our year.
“A solid weekend in Jerez is the aim next before getting stuck into the off-season.”
Rea suffered a deep wound to his right thumb in a crash at Magny-Cours in September, ruling him out of the following round at Cremona in Italy before he made his return at Aragon in Spain.
Razgatlioglu, who also crashed at Magny-Cours, suffering a collapsed lung, is on track for the title after missing the Italian round.
The 27-year-old won Saturday’s first race before losing out to chief rival Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) in the closest finish in World Superbike history in the Superpole race on Sunday, with only 0.003s between them on the line.
Razgatlioglu hit back to win the final race and is in pole position for his second World Superbike crown ahead of the decider at Jerez.
Meanwhile, Glenn Irwin finished the 2024 British Superbike Championship in third place overall following the final round at Brands Hatch.
England’s Kyle Ryde won the title for the first time by a single point from 2023 champion Tommy Bridewell after a dramatic finale at the Kent circuit where the two main protagonists earned a victory apiece.
Irwin’s outside chances of the title were blown when he crashed in Saturday’s race in the wet.
The Hager PBM Ducati rider was 10th in the Sprint race yesterday and seventh in the final race but held on to third in the standings.
Irwin, who won eight times in 2024, said: “Hats off to Tommy and Kyle, they rode fantastic all season.
“We won one race less than Kyle, but we didn’t have enough middle ground and podiums; we learn and go away and do our homework and go back to the school run for about four or five months now and come back stronger.”
Scott Swann from Magheramorne won the final National Superstock 1000 race to wrap up third in the Championship, which was won by Davey Todd, while Dublin’s Jack Kennedy was crowned British Supersport champion for a fifth year, winning both races over the weekend.