REA ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: six-time Champion to end full-time racing career at the end of 2025. The #65 has the most titles, wins, podiums and fastest laps in WorldSBK history, but will bring an end to his illustrious career when this season concludes
Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) has announced his retirement from full-time racing at the end of the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign. The most successful rider of all time by virtually every metric and statistic going has opted to bring an end to his career at the end of the year, with his WorldSBK career spanning 18 seasons and with the Northern Irishman breaking records and making history throughout his time in World Superbike to go down as a motorcycle racing great.
THE HONDA YEARS: a 2008 cameo before five seasons with Honda
Rea impressed in his one full season in WorldSSP, to the point where he received a call-up to race for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, his World Supersport team, in WorldSBK at Portimao. A front row start and a P4 finish highlighted his potential, and he was soon on the grid full-time from 2009, again with Ten Kate Racing. In five full campaigns on the CBR1000RR, Rea claimed 15 victories and 42 podiums before a new era of success started in 2015 as he made the switch to Kawasaki.
THE DREAM TEAM IN GREEN: unprecedented success with Kawasaki
For 2015, Rea moved to the Kawasaki Racing Team and the ZX-10RR machine, which had won the 2013 Riders’ Championship with Tom Sykes, and runner-up the season after, and finished second in the Manufacturers’ Championship in 2013 and 2014. Success was instant for the #65 as he won his first race in green, at Phillip Island, before taking 14 victories as he claimed his first title – the start of a record-breaking run. Nine wins followed in 2016 as he made it two in a row, before securing a hat-trick of Championships in 2017. His run didn’t stop there as he won in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – seeing off new and existing rivals in the process – to become the first rider with more than four titles in WorldSBK history, surpassing Carl Fogarty. In total, Rea won 104 times for Kawasaki and took a monumental 221 podiums. As success slowed down from 2021, losing out on the title to Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) that season and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in 2022 and 2023, Rea opted for a new challenge as he switched from green to blue.
A BOMBSHELL MOVE: Rea makes Yamaha switch for 2024
In a chain of events that will live long in the memory, Razgatlioglu stunned the motorcycle world by switching from Yamaha to BMW before Rea made his own shock move – replacing ‘El Turco’ at Yamaha for the 2024 season. It’s been two tumultuous years for Rea on the Yamaha R1, with highlights including a pole at Assen in the wet as he mastered the rainy conditions and a podium on home soil at Donington Park; his first rostrum for Yamaha. An injury-hit start to 2025 put him on the back foot and, while there have been signs of promise, Rea hasn’t been able to make everything click to lead Yamaha back to consistent winners. The 38-year-old has decided to call time on his full-time racing career at the end of his Yamaha stint.
REA’S THOUGHTS: “It’s not the records, the trophies or the race wins. It’s the people and the memories I take with me forever”
In a video posted to his social media, Rea stated: “I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time and finally, I’ve decided to step away from full-time racing and retire. This sport has been everything to me. From growing up as a child in Northern Ireland, dreaming of racing bikes, to standing on the top step of the WorldSBK Championship, winning races and Championships. Throughout my career, I’ve only ever had one goal: to win. That mentality defined who I was. I never raced to make up the numbers. I raced to be the best. The time has come to listen to my body, my mind and, most importantly, my instinct. If I can’t race to win, then it’s time to step away. I have the same love for the sport I had on day one right now in this present day. I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved during my lengthy career. Six World Championships, more than 100 race wins, and so many other accolades along the way. These are some records that I never imaged could be possible.
“It’s not the records, the trophies or the race wins. It’s the people and the memories I take with me forever. I’ve had the honour of working with some incredible teams, sponsors and engineers during my career. You’ve all been part of this journey and I’m incredibly grateful that you let me live my dream. To my family, mum and dad, brother and sisters, thank you so much for all your sacrifice during the early days of my career. To my wife, Tarsh, and our kids, Jake and Tyler, thank you so much for being my anchor and my rock during all the good and tougher times. To all my rivals and competitors during my career, thanks for making my dig deep. I was such a better rider because of you guys. To all my fans, thank you for all your incredible support and loyalty; all the support during good times and bad times have really helped me through and given me the career I’ve dreamed of. Whilst I’m stepping away from full-time racing, this isn’t goodbye. I’ll always be part of this sport, just in a different way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. It’s been one hell of a ride. I’ll see you in the paddock.”
YAMAHA SAYS: “To fight against a rider of this level for World Championships was an honour for us all… We will continue to push hard in our final four races together”
Andrea Dosoli, Division Manager in the Motorsport Division at Yamaha Motor Europe paid tribute to Rea’s career, saying: “Jonathan is an extremely talented rider who has done remarkable things in his 17 years racing at the highest level of production racing. He should be very proud to look back having achieved what he has during his career, as it is unlikely any rider will come close to such statistics for a long time. For many years, Jonathan was a fierce competitor for us, a rival who pushed us hard and made us improve. To fight against a rider of this level for World Championships was an honour for us all. For the last two years, Jonathan was no longer our competition, but our rider. There is no escaping that our journey together has not played out how either Jonathan, nor ourselves, had hoped, but despite these tougher times, Jonathan remained committed and dedicated to our project. We will continue to push hard in our final four races together, as nothing would give us greater satisfaction than seeing this Champion return to the podium before he calls time on a most wonderful WorldSBK career. We thank Jonathan for all his effort, professionalism and dedication, congratulate him on his achievements and wish him all the best for the future.”
Congratulate Rea on his career using #thegREAtest on social media, re-live Rea’s illustrious career and watch his final four rounds in style using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now half price!