Pata Honda riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam are on their way to the Losail International Circuit in Qatar for this weekend’s (31 October – 2 November) final round of the 2014 World Superbike championship.

While the series title is out of reach for the Pata Honda team’s British duo, there is plenty to fight for in the last two races of a truncated championship season. Rea, 27, is still battling for a top three finish in the points standings and currently sits in fourth place, just 11 points behind Italian rider Marco Melandri with a maximum of 50 points up for grabs in Sunday’s two 17-lap races.

Haslam, meanwhile, will be keen to follow-up his welcome podium finish last time out on his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP. To the delight of his team, the 31-year-old climbed the rostrum for the first time with the Netherlands-based squad in a wet second race at Magny-Cours in France a month ago.

This season’s climax at the 5.38km Losail International Circuit just outside the capital Doha marks a return to Qatar for the World Superbike championship for the first time since 2009. The circuit features six left-hand corners and 10 rights, plus a 1.068km-long start-finish straight. This weekend’s two races will also be the first World Superbike encounters to take place under floodlights.



Jonathan Rea

I’m really looking forward to racing in Losail again for a variety of reasons. I’ve done a couple of new model launches there for Honda and I really like the circuit layout; it’ll also be the first time I’ve raced at night. I think the visibility will be quite high, especially compared to riding in the dark like I’ve done at Suzuka in the 8 Hours. But I think the biggest challenge is going to be the schedule and working out the best time for food intake and other things in order to perform physically late at night instead of during the day. It’s the last round of the championship but the plan is still quite straightforward. The CBR has been quite competitive at the last few rounds so we’ll try to get a good base setting again on Friday and aim to finish the season on a high in this desert challenge.

Leon Haslam

It’s been another strange month off between the last two races of the season but it was fantastic to get on the podium at Magny-Cours and I’m really looking forward to riding at Qatar again. I’ve only raced there once, in 2009, but I’ve got quite a few laps under my belt. I helped on the launch of the 2008 Fireblade and then Jonathan and I were there for the introduction of the SP model last year. But it will certainly be different riding there under the lights, even though I’ve done a bit of racing in the dark at Suzuka. It seems much brighter, but I know the track can be a little sandy to start with. I’ve been told to look out for my own shadow overtaking me, but otherwise it’s a really exciting way to end the season.

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

The bikes went straight to Qatar from Magny-Cours so we have not had an opportunity to work on them, but we’ll take some software updates for the electronics. I think our main aim for the weekend will be to retake third place in the championship for Jonathan, which is certainly possible. He and the bike have been strong in the last few races and it was unfortunate that he crashed out of a healthy lead in the last race in France. I hope we can continue a strong end to the season for Leon, too, because it was great to see him on the podium at Magny-Cours. I think he should be able to challenge for top five finishes because, despite the really long straight at the Losail circuit, the fast changes of direction on the other parts of the circuit should suit the CBR well.

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