Jonathan Rea: Northern Irish rider says he can win seventh World Superbikes title with Yamaha

Jonathan Rea says he can win a seventh World Superbikes title with Yamaha after leaving Kawasaki.

When the season begins at Phillip Island in Australia at the end of February, 36-year-old Rea will be wearing the blue of Yamaha.

He said ending his history-making partnership with Kawasaki was "one of the toughest decisions" of his life.

But having won the last of his six World Superbike titles in 2020, he felt it was time for a fresh start.

"It's so nice to breathe some different air, you know, it's a different atmosphere," Rea told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.

"I've been pretty experienced in this career now, but even changing now, it's nice.

"It's re-energised me, my outlook, and it's nice riding a different bike as well. There are different sensations.

"I feel like every day now is a learning day, every lap's not wasted and the crew are fantastic, so I'm in a great place and looking forward to seeing what we can achieve."

• Rea 'needed a new challenge'

The atmosphere Rea helped create within the Kawasaki team had a family feel to it. Winning helped. Rea took the chequered flag on 104 occasions to go alongside 220 podiums.

Now he is seeking to repeat that level of success with Yamaha.

He added: "What I've been surprised about was, not surprised, but I had to open my mind to it because I had worked with an incredible bunch of people in my previous team, my previous job, let's say, and coming to a new job or new surroundings, you start to think, well, will it be as good in this area or will it be good here?

"But you arrive somewhere new and you think there's great people everywhere and there's so many areas where this team are doing better or at a higher level.

"So it's a nice place to be and everyone around me is really excited as well for my arrival, it made me feel very, very welcome and that's really cool."

'I really don't feel like I'm done'

Jonathan Rea testing the new Yamaha bike

Rea made the decision to leave Kawasaki over a "few glasses of wine" last August.

"The easy decision was to stay and do what I was doing. I was well-loved, I'd achieved everything I wanted to achieve in the sport with Kawasaki, but the hard decision was a challenge, you know, trying to put myself out of my comfort zone, strive for another world title.

"You know, I really don't feel like I'm done, I feel I've still a lot more to give in the sport, I feel like I can achieve a lot more, but I needed to do something different, so taking that leap of faith, let's say, was tough, but as soon as I made the decision, it was easy.

"It was, OK, this is the way we're going, let's work hard for it and see what we can do."

At the time, Rea still had a year to run on his contract with Kawasaki so moving to another team was clear cut.

"Yeah, the options on my table were to retire, which I didn't want to do, to keep going in my contract with KRT, which I wasn't keen to do, or speak to my manager and understand how I could take this new opportunity at Yamaha.

"That was the tough decision, but I left it up to him."

'There's a lot of pressure'

Rea won the last of his six world titles in 2020

Now Rea can focus on the new season and toppling the Spanish rider Alvaro Bautista, who has won back-to-back world titles.

"I'm not done. I want to achieve more. I think there's still a lot left, and it's so addictive, winning is so, so addictive, and you could say I'm competitive," he explained.

"It's not a ruthless decision to do this, but I feel calculated that I put myself in a good place that we can win races and challenge for another world title."

Rea's move has been referred to as the biggest transfer in World Superbike history but for the Ballyclare rider it's all about looking to the future.

"There's a lot of pressure, because it's going to be very hard to measure if this was the best move. But for me, emotionally, it's like I said at the start, it's this new era, it's new, it's exciting again.

"And for me, it's already the right decision, but it comes with pressure, not only on me that I took the right decision, but also on the team as well. We're beginning a two-year chapter now, and I feel good with the bike, but Superbike's stacked right now.

"Manufacture support's incredible, so you see up and down pit lane, there's probably five or six guys that can stick their claim for a world title, so I feel my name's in amongst that, so we're just trying to stay healthy, injury-free, and give our best week in, week out, and see where we are come October."