Even Valentino Rossi thinks Jonathan Rea would be fast in MotoGP

With five WorldSBK titles under his belt and seemingly no end to his current domination of the production-based series, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone that hasn’t pondered how Jonathan Rea would fare if he competed full-time in MotoGP.

But now Rea has received arguably the most convincing backing yet from one Valentino Rossi, who believes both he and Toprak Razgatlioglu would perform strongly in MotoGP.

Rea made his full-time debut in WorldSBK with Honda in 2009, but it was his switch to the more consistently competitive Kawasaki Racing Team in 2015 that allowed him to realise his full potential. He has since gone to become the most successful WorldSBK rider in history with five titles and 89 wins.

Though the man himself says he hasn’t had a convincing offer from any front-running teams in MotoGP – saying that only the Aprilia factory and satellite outfits have enquired about his services – he has more recently admitted he would have liked to compete in the premier class.

Now Rossi himself has piped up to suggest his ‘beautiful riding style’ would be well suited to performing well in MotoGP.

“I have always followed Superbike and I’ve always liked it,” he told the LaLiga SportsTV station. “It’s a championship where battles never fail, with great riders and some friends.

“In Australia the races are often in groups and very beautiful, the show never fails. I really like Rea, especially for his beautiful riding style, which I think could make him fast even riding a MotoGP bike.”

Rossi also reserved praise for fellow Yamaha stablemate Razgatlioglu, who he believes will be the one to take fight to Rea in this year’s title race.

“Razgatlioglu, who is a brand partner of mine, impressed me a lot. He is really fast and I think he can be a difficult rival for Rea to beat.”

Following his switch from Kawasaki to Yamaha it is understood the manufacturer is keen to prime Razgatlioglu for a potential move to MotoGP in future. His manager Kenan Sofuoglu recently revealed he has already been offered MotoGP deals, but has chosen to remain in WorldSBK in his efforts to become the first Turk to win the title.