Six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea has signed a two-year deal with Yamaha following the announcement of his departure from Kawasaki at the end of the season.
Jonathan Rea will undoubtedly be racing for the Pata Yamaha team in 2024 as he closes the chapter on a remarkable nine-year tenure with Kawasaki that produced seven World Superbike titles for him and the team.
The Pata Yamaha team recently took to social media to confirm the news, bringing it to the public’s attention. Their post confirming the news went up around an hour after Rea’s own social media post declaring his departure from KRT.
Rea will link up with Andrea Locatelli at the factory Yamaha team next season taking Toprak Razgatlioglu’s place, as Motorsport.com revealed on Saturday.
Rea still had a year left on his contract with Kawasaki, the manufacturer with which he won more than 100 races and all six of his championships. However the two sides mutually decided to part ways early due to a recent downturn in performance.
Yamaha initially sought a rider from among its own ranks to succeed 2021 champion Razgatlioglu, but the manufacturer eventually changed its mind and began looking for a prominent figure who could help them win the championship.
The focus soon shifted to Rea, who was growing increasingly disgruntled with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR’s lack of performance, despite the entry of prominent names like Scott Redding from BMW.
“We are extremely glad to welcome Jonathan to the Yamaha family and we are highly eager to partner with him for the future,” Eric de Seynes, President & CEO of Yamaha Motor Europe said. “We have the same motivation to win, and the same passion for WorldSBK.
“Like him we have been world champions in recent years and we want to be back on the top of the box once again.
“Jonathan’s drive, determination and hunger for success have been constants throughout his career and these attributes will contribute to our future common success.
“We truly believe that Jonathan can add to his world championship tally, writing his name even larger in the history books, and we are equally confident that he can achieve this together with us.
“We are working hard to improve further our race-proven Yamaha R1, to ensure that we provide Jonathan with exactly what he needs to achieve his and Yamaha’s goals in 2024 and 2025.”
After Kawasaki stated that Rea will be departing the team at the conclusion of the 2023 season, Yamaha made the announcement that Rea would be joining the team on Monday afternoon.
Rea currently in third place in the championship standings with just one victory this year after eight rounds, which came at Most.
Despite the fact that Yamaha hasn’t exactly been able to match up with Alvaro Bautista’s dominant Ducati, the R1 has shown to be much more highly competitive with Razgatlioglu winning five races so far, including four in the previous three rounds.
Yamaha now leads the teams standings by six points thanks to Locatelli, who has outperformed Michael Ruben Rinaldi from Ducati.
