Jonathan Rea to race with Honda: why his return to Portimão seems written in the stars

The King of Portimão will return to action at a place that’s meaningful in his Superbike career: he will replace Dixon, looking to help Honda’s growth.

On Tuesday it was officially confirmed that Jonathan Rea will take part in the WorldSBK round at Portimão on the weekend of March 27–29. It had already leaked that he would race as a wild card, but Jake Dixon’s injury gave him the chance to line up alongside the returning Somkiat Chantra in the factory Honda HRC team. There was a test at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve at the start of last week and the six-time world champion was there too, but he was only able to make use of a few hours on the first of the two scheduled days, as rain later spoiled the plans of the teams present.

JR65 needs more mileage to get to know the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP better and provide a more incisive contribution to development, and surely the Portuguese round will give him a good opportunity in that sense. The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve is also a very special place for him. It was right there that he made his World Superbike debut in 2008, the year he was racing in Supersport with the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team. That team was also present in SBK and gave him the opportunity to compete in the final round of the year in the premier production-derived championship.

The Northern Irish rider surprised everyone by setting the third-fastest time in Superpole and finishing fourth in Race 1, while Race 2 was bitter (fourteenth place). From 2009 to 2025 he raced full-time in Superbike, and at Portimão he amassed 13 wins, 25 podiums and 8 pole positions. His first victory on the Portuguese rollercoaster dates back to 2014 and also represents his last as a Honda rider. After finishing fifth in Race 1, he triumphed in the wet in Race 2, leaving the Ducatis of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies more than 6 seconds behind.

That was his best season with Honda: 334 points scored and third place in the final standings, behind champion Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) and his future teammate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki). In his last Superbike round with the CBR1000RR-R in Qatar he took a fourth and a second place, signing off with a podium before beginning his winning spell with the Kawasaki team: six consecutive World Superbike titles between 2015 and 2020.

As we have already written, it’s unlikely that Rea will be able to return to the podium with Honda at Portimão, but no one in the HRC team is asking that of him, and no fan expects such a feat from him. Even though over the years he has been nicknamed the Cannibal for his hunger for victories, today the situation is different: the Northern Irish rider will race trying to do his best, above all with a view to helping a CBR1000RR-R that perhaps has not yet shown its full potential in recent years to grow.

The experience of a six-time WorldSBK champion is a resource that Honda wants to exploit to the fullest to take steps forward and reduce the gap to Ducati, which in 2026 showed up on the grid with a new Panigale V4 R still to be fully discovered but already impressive in the opening round at Phillip Island. HRC is investing in the production-derived championship as well and expects to make progress this season. JR65 wants to do his part.