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Jonathan Rea has confirmed that he’ll be staying in WorldSBK until the end of the year 2020.
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The 31-year-old Irish rider has signed a two-year deal with the Kawasaki Racing Team.
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This contract renewal has also put a stop to the rumours about him making his move to MotoGP in 2019.
Multiple WorldSBK world champion Jonathan Rea has finally signed a two-year deal with the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT). The 31-year-old Irish rider has put all rumours aside by confirming his stay in the FIM Superbike World Championship until the end of 2020.
After surpassing Carl Fogarty’s all-time WorldSBK number of wins on Saturday, the more exciting news was delivered following the monumental feat. This announcement also put the MotoGP move in 2019 to rest where talks about him possibly replacing the outgoing Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda.
It comes to as no surprise for Jonathan Rea renewing his contract with the Kawasaki Racing Team. Ever since joining them back in 2015, he has won three back-to-back world championships and he is well on his way to his fourth. Currently, he’s in the lead of the 2018 championship with a gap of 65 points.
According to Rea, “I am more than happy to continue in these next two seasons with the Kawasaki Racing Team. Since the end of last season, we have already started to talk about continuing our partnership, so it’s nice to finalise everything now so that we can concentrate on the remaining races of 2018. From the moment I arrived at the end of 2014 I was welcomed into the Kawasaki family and since then we have achieved success beyond our wildest dreams. Here is where I want to stay.
“Of course it feels natural to keep writing this incredible story together, and I want to thank everyone in the Kawasaki Racing Team for believing in me and for this opportunity. Together we will work harder than ever to keep the ZX-10RR at the front of WorldSBK in the future. I have the best team of people around me to ensure that we can continue fighting for the World Championship,” added Rea.
News regarding his current teammate Tom Sykes is set to for a huge change as talks about him leaving KRT at the end of the 2018 season are currently active.
Image source: WorldSBK
