@Pata @Honda #rider Jonathan Rea finished as runner-up in this evening’s final World Superbike race of the season at Losail in Qatar, securing third place in the championship, as French rider Sylvain Guintoli took the title with a double race victory.
Rea had finished in fourth place in the first 17-lap outing under floodlights at the 5.380km Losail International Circuit after a blistering start on his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP from seventh place on the grid.
In race two, Rea got another great launch off the grid and led the race in the early stages before dropping back to third. However, knowing that he had to fight for every available point, Rea got back past outgoing champion Tom Sykes to finish three seconds behind Guintoli and take third place in the series by a single point from Marco Melandri.
Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam finished race one in 11th place after struggling with front end grip throughout the 17 laps, but the British ace had to fight even harder for tenth place in race two.
After a good start from sixth place on the grid, the 31-year-old was forced off the track at the first corner by Frenchman Loris Baz and had to recover from last position. His hard-fought finish leaves Haslam seventh overall in the final points standings.
Jonathan Rea - 4th and 3rd
I’m really, really happy and what a way to finish the season here in Qatar under the lights. With the atmosphere here, hanging around the hotel pool during the day, it just makes me realise how lucky I am to have this amazing job and to be here. I just want to thank my team for putting their best efforts in this year - they gave me a bike that I could really enjoy riding and we’ve developed the CBR a lot through the year. And at the end of the season I was really happy to finish a lot on the podium and to take back third in the championship. I’m really happy for that and it sets me up for next season in a really good way.
Leon Haslam - 11th and 10th
At the start of race two, Baz was going to wipe about five riders out and he came right across me. I had to lift up because he was going to hit me and we both went off the track. Coming through from last place to tenth wasn’t the best way to finish the season but we certainly made some good changes to the bike from race one to race two. We should probably have opted for the softer tyre like everyone else and I ended up in a bit of a lonely race in tenth for the last few laps. But it was fun coming through the field in the first part of the race and we secured seventh in the championship which was the main thing. The results have been a little disappointing but I think we’ve all worked really well this weekend and just had a bit of bad luck.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
What an exciting day it’s been, taking third place in the championship after two fantastic races. In the first race, Jonathan finished just off the podium after battling all race long but he closed the gap to Melandri to six points for third in the championship. In race two he had another fabulous start and led for a while, finally fighting with Sykes for a lot of laps for a place on the podium. But it was also a race-long battle for third in the championship. Leon’s evening was a little more difficult and he had a front tyre problem in the first race. Race two was a lot better in terms of performance, but he had some problems with Baz at the beginning, which compromised his result. But it was great to see him so determined to fight back through the field after that.
Weather
Night Race
Air
27°C
Track
30°C
Humidity
47%
Race 1 Results - Losail - 5.380km, 17 laps
1 Sylvain Guintoli 33m46.738s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Loris Baz +2.650s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes +3.955s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Jonathan Rea +4.805s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
5 Davide Guigliano +7.861s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
6 Toni Elias +8.192s ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
7 Chaz Davies +8.991s GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Marco Melandri +10.512s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
9 Eugene Laverty +15.978s IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Alex Lowes +21.456s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
11 Leon Haslam +25.977s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
Weather
Night Race
Air
25°C
Track
28°C
Humidity
56%
Race 2 Results - Losail - 5.380km, 17 laps
1 Sylvain Guintoli 33m41.803s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Jonathan Rea +3.568s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
3 Tom Sykes +5.092s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri +8.305s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Chaz Davies +8.390s GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
6 Toni Elias +8.654s ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
7 Loris Baz +9.115s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
8 Davide Guigliano +13.015s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
9 Alex Lowes +13.478s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Leon Haslam +25.471s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
Championship Standings
1 Sylvain Guintoli 416 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Tom Sykes 410 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Jonathan Rea 334 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
4 Marco Melandri 333 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Loris Baz 311 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Chaz Davies 215 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
7 Leon Haslam 187 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
8 Davide Guigliano 181 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
9 Toni Elias 171 pts ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
10 Eugene Laverty 161 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
