Jonathan Rea set the seventh fastest time in today’s first qualifying session in Assen in The Netherlands in preparation for Sunday’s third round World Superbike championship races.

Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate, Leon Haslam, did not take part in qualifying after crashing in the morning free practice session, in which the 29-year-old British rider sustained a fractured leg (click here for details).

In cold and wet conditions at the 4.542km Assen circuit, Rea had a frustrating morning with a technical issue that prevented him completing more than a handful of laps.

The issue was rectified for the afternoon qualifying session and the 26-year-old from Northern Ireland continued to work on optimum settings for his Pata Honda CBR1000RR machine.


Jonathan Rea – P7, 2m00.197s

It’s been a really mixed day for me. The first session was a bit pointless, really – we had a problem with the machine that we couldn’t diagnose so I did three out and in laps, but the session was wasted without a timed lap. Session two was better and we discovered the problem was in the front of the bike and I had a lot more feeling, but at the end of the session I still needed more contact feeling with the rear, especially when I go off the gas. I hope the weather gets better, not just for me but for the fans who come here to Assen for the weekend. If it’s wet, we need to work in this direction tomorrow, but I hope it’s dry. I want to send my best wishes to my team-mate, Leon – he had a pretty bad crash this morning and he’s now in hospital waiting for an operation so I hope he bears up well.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Leon’s crash this morning has coloured the day for us, unfortunately. It’s a real shame and we all wish him a really quick recovery and we hope to see him back really, really soon. Jonathan had some problems with the bike this morning but we managed to solve them a little this afternoon. Still, he’s not completely happy with the setting and the way the bike is reacting in the wet but in the end he was seventh. That’s more or less OK for today but tomorrow and Sunday we expect dry weather and a completely different ball game.


2013 World Superbike championship, round three – TT Circuit Assen, The Netherlands

First qualifying results

1 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 1m57.190s

2 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Aprilia 1m58.824s

3 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aprilia 1m59.068s

4 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW 1m59.316s

5 Davide Guigliano (ITA) Aprilia 1m59.317s

6 Ayrton Badovini (ITA) Ducati 1m59.754s

7 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Pata Honda 2m00.197s

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