SBK, Honda struggling: Jonathan Rea in 'survival mode' at Assen

Honda continues to struggle in WorldSBK, another weekend to forget at Assen: sad to see a champion like Rea so far back.

No one expected to see a podium-finishing Honda at the start of the 2026 Superbike season, but the current situation is truly bleak. With Jake Dixon expected to return to action only at the Balaton Park round (May 1–3) and Somkiat Chantra injured again (crash in FP3, he should make it for Hungary), the only CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP to complete the Assen weekend was Jonathan Rea’s.

But, as we’ve already written, the six-time WorldSBK champion can’t work miracles with a bike he doesn’t know well and that doesn’t seem particularly competitive. Perhaps the fear of crashing and getting injured also keeps him from pushing at 100%. For what, then? The results he can achieve with the Honda aren’t that exciting; better to try to really understand the bike and provide useful feedback to the engineers to improve it.

It’s certainly sad to see a legend like Rea struggle so much at the TT Circuit, where he holds the record for wins (17) and a total of 25 podiums. After two seventeenth places in Race 1 and the Superpole Race, Race 2 went even worse: nineteenth. Despite the poor result, the HRC rider isn’t throwing everything away: "Actually, I liked Race 2, or at least the first half, because despite a bad start I managed to make some passes and find a good rhythm, lapping in the low 1'34s. I felt comfortable, but around lap 11 or 12 I started having issues with the front tire. I had a few sketchy moments and then I struggled to turn because I wasn’t loading the tire the same way. To be honest, by the end I was kind of in survival mode, which was frustrating because physically I felt good."

From the outside it all looks negative, but the six-time Superbike world champion can see some positives and is sure the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP improved at Assen: "The guys made some good setup changes right from Free Practice 1 and we worked well to explore some options with the bike. If we came back tomorrow, of course we already have more ideas to try to be faster at the end of the race. I know the result doesn’t really reflect it, but we made progress this weekend."

The 39-year-old from Northern Ireland is giving his all to help with development; the HRC project motivates him, even if today’s situation looks really bleak. As we’ve already said, Chantra’s and Dixon’s injuries have been a setback for Honda. There’s also the question of whether it was right to bet on two riders without SBK experience to try for a turnaround, but time will provide all the answers.