Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea rounded off a perfect weekend on his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade at the fourth-round World Superbike championship event at Imola in Italy today.

The 27-year-old British rider comfortably won both of today’s races at the 4.936km Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari from pole position, setting the fastest lap in each of the two outings. He now leads the championship by four points from fellow Brit Tom Sykes.

Rea got superb starts in both 19-lap races and was never challenged, with Chaz Davies and Sykes joining him on the podium in race one. Davies and Sylvain Guintoli were second and third respectively in the second race.

Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam finished tenth in race one and eighth in race two, battling hard in both outings after a promising start to the Imola event. He will join Rea and other World Superbike riders for an official one-day test at the Imola crcuit tomorrow.

Jonathan Rea - 1st and 1st

It’s been a great weekend for me! I couldn’t have imagined doubling up coming here. But I knew we’d be strong because it’s a circuit I really enjoy and one that the bike goes really well at. To cap it off, it’s also been a perfect weekend for the team with Lorenzo [Zanetti] winning his first World Supersport race so massive congratulations to him. Mikey [van der Mark] was on the podium and he’s leading the championship, too. It’s a shame we have a test tomorrow because I think everybody in the team deserves to go and really enjoy the night and savour this moment but it’s back to work tomorrow! We’ll try to make the bike better and go to Donington hopefully to keep this ball rolling. I’m really enjoying riding right now and I want to thank everyone who’s put the work in. Not just the track staff here but the guys back at base in Nieuwleusen [Netherlands]. It’s also the home round for our sponsors, Pata, so a big thanks to them, too.


Leon Haslam - 10th and 8th

We’ve made a step but from free practice yesterday morning we’ve lost about a second a lap. From being able to do high 47s and low 48s on old, used tyres, we’ve only been able to do high 48s today, dropping into the 49s. I was quicker on an 18-lap harder tyre on Friday than I was in both races today. So, for me it’s not been a good weekend, but it’s been fantastic for the team. You always want to beat your team mate, but it’s good that the bike is capable and for me that’s a positive. Also a one-two in Supersport is mega for the team but it probably adds a little frustration from my side because it could have been good for me. We’ve got a test here tomorrow so we’ll hopefully be able to figure some things out and find out what changed from yesterday. I know Donington well and that the bike can work well there, so hopefully I can start my season there!

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

Leon struggled today and was far away from his team-mate. We know he can be within a second or half a second of Jonathan but it was not his day. We changed some things for race two and he fought for a better finish. We have a test tomorrow and we’ll do anything we can to get him to the front with more confidence. It’s in there, and he’s a little fighter – he’s not giving up and neither are we. Jonathan has had an amazing double win. After his pole yesterday things were looking good and, after warm-up this morning, it was looking even better. The competition had no chance today and he’s now leading the championship, so big congratulations to the whole crew. I’m so happy for Jonathan, too, because he has stuck with us through some hard times and always believed in us.

Event results - Round 4- Race 1

1 Jonathan Rea 34m14.829s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
2 Chaz Davies 4.511 GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
3 Tom Sykes 6.492 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Loris Baz 8.434 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
5 Sylvain Guintoli 9.134 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
6 Marco Melandri 14.925 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
7 Eugene Laverty 19.973 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
8 Alex Lowes 21.582 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Toni Elias 28.781 SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
10 Leon Haslam 31.245 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
11 Leon Camier 40.996 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
12 David Salom 55.372 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
13 Luca Scassa 55.899 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
14 Jeremy Guarnoni 1'04.402 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
15 Alessandro Andreozzi 1'23.074 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
16 Fabien Foret 1'23.324 FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
17 Sheridan Morais 1'36.763 RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
18 Claudio Corti 1'36.942 ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
19 Peter Sebestyen 1'43.545 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
20 Imre Toth 1'43.819 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
21 Davide Giugliano DNF ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
22 Michel Fabrizio DNF ITA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
23 Aaron Yates DNF USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
24 Niccolo Canepa DNF ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
26 Geoff May DNF USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
27 Christian Iddon DNF GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare
28 Ayrton Badovini DNF ITA BIMOTA Team Alstare

Event results - Round 4- Race 2

1 Jonathan Rea 34m14.255s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
2 Chaz Davies 4.095 GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
3 Sylvain Guintoli 5.546 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Loris Baz 6.285 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
5 Tom Sykes 7.147 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Davide Giugliano 22.054 ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
7 Toni Elias 25.811 SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
8 Leon Haslam 26.127 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
9 Eugene Laverty 26.306 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Alex Lowes 33.046 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
11 Marco Melandri 37.788 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
12 Leon Camier 42.415 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
13 David Salom 52.114 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
14 Luca Scassa 59.001 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
15 Fabien Foret 1'04.364 FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
16 Jeremy Guarnoni 1'18.512 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
17 Alessandro Andreozzi 1'34.487 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
18 Geoff May 1 Lap USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
19 Imre Toth 1 Lap HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
20 Niccolo Canepa DNF ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
21 Sheridan Morais DNF RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
22 Michel Fabrizio DNF ITA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
23 Peter Sebestyen DNF HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
24 Aaron Yates DNF USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
25 Claudio Corti DNF ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
27 Ayrton Badovini DNF ITA BIMOTA Team Alstare
28 Christian Iddon GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare

Championship standings

1 Jonathan Rea 139 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
2 Tom Sykes 135 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Sylvain Guintoli 123 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Loris Baz 119 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
5 Chaz Davies 87 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
6 Marco Melandri 84 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
7 Davide Giugliano 69 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Eugene Laverty 62 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Leon Haslam 58 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
10 Toni Elias 50 pts SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
11 Alex Lowes 50 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
12 David Salom 34 pts ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
13 Niccolo Canepa 28 pts ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
14 Leon Camier 20 pts GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
15 Luca Scassa 16 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
16 Sheridan Morais 10 pts RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
17 Fabien Foret 10 pts FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
18 Jeremy Guarnoni 7 pts FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
19 Glen Allerton 6 pts AUS BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
20 Kervin Bos 5 pts NED HONDA Winteb LiquidRubber Racing T.
21 Claudio Corti 5 pts ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
22 Michel Fabrizio 2 pts ITA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
23 Alessandro Andreozzi 1 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
24 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
25 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
26 Geoff May 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
27 Christian Iddon 0 pts GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare
28 Aaron Yates 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR

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