Yamaha regression not to blame for Jonathan Rea 2024 WSBK struggles, says Yamaha team boss

Along with Toprak Razgatlioglu’s move from Yamaha to BMW, Jonathan Rea’s switch from Kawasaki to replace the Turkish rider at Yamaha was one of the most exciting rider transfers of last winter, arguably even since Rea himself left Honda for Kawasaki at the end of 2014.

But, while Razgatlioglu is now sitting on a 92-point championship lead over Ducati rookie Nicolo Bulega and has won the last 13 races in a row, Rea has yet to win aboard the Yamaha R1, and he has only scored one pole and one podium in the opening eight rounds of the season.

Despite this — and considering the context of Rea’s switch being that he was inheriting the bike that Razgatlioglu finished second overall with last season, with 33 podiums from 36 races, a worst finish of fourth, and six wins — Denning insists that the Yamaha has improved over last year.

“The package is better than last year and to not be in the same positions in the championship is a reflection of the strength and depth in the championship,” Denning explained.

“[Danilo] Petrucci is in his second year on the [Ducati], the obvious improvement led by Toprak [Razgatlioglu] on BMW’s side, Alex [Lowes] and Kawasaki clearly taking a substantial step forward compared to last year, [Andrea] Iannone’s not shy of getting involved.

“However you look through the field, there’re so many good riders on good bikes, it just takes a slight bit of underperformance.

“Our bike has measurably improved in a few areas and that’s reflected by the improvements we’ve seen over race distance. The competition is a lot stiffer and we need to do a lot more.

“Yamaha aren’t asleep in Japan or in the WorldSBK development centre in Milan and we’re working hard. The plan is always to try and improve the bike. No surrender and keep pushing.”

END GOAL: “If we can win a race before the end of the year then it’d be a spectacular result”

Compared to its previous multi-race-winning seasons, the factory Yamaha team is less optimistic about its ambitions for the remainder of 2024, despite the improvements Denning alluded to.

“If we can win a race before the end of the year then it’d be a spectacular result, based on where we are right now after seven rounds,” he said. “What would make us satisfied is continued improvements on both sides of the garage and particularly to give JR a package to fight at the front, which is clearly his position.”