Jonathan Rea is expected to be at Mugello to speak with Alberto Puig, HRC Honda Team Manager. At the moment, it’s increasingly likely that the three times World Superbike Champion will leave Kawasaki and WorldSBK to join Honda and MotoGP. It means that Dani Pedrosa may leave the team at the end of the season and, in that case, he would join many other riders who haven’t found a seat for 2019 yet. It would also explain why HRC hasn’t signed Joan Mir, who will finally jump to the top class with Suzuki.
SENSATIONAL – Last weekend, at Donington, it was sure that Jonathan Rea would have renewd his contract with Kawasaki for two more years. His manager Chuck Aksland’s trip to Le Mans seemed to be unsuccessful, but, by contrast, Honda is very interested in the rider from Ballymena. The two parties will negotiate this weekend at Mugello and we’re ready to see how it will go. Furthermore, Rea would come back to HRC after a six-year break: do you remember when Jonathan replaced injured Casey Stoner back in 2012? He raced at Misano and Aragon and his results were an eighth and seventh place. Rea’s switch to MotoGP would also give a great shake to World Superbike, but we’ll analyse this aspect later. Moreover, Jonathan may contest this year’s Suzuka 8 Hours (taking place on 29th July) with Kawasaki, but as a Honda rider…