Jonathan Rea endured a “difficult” first day back in the World Superbike Championship after the Northern Ireland rider made his injury return at Cremona in Italy.

Six-time champion Rea missed the first three rounds of the 2025 season after sustaining fractures to his left foot in a crash during the final pre-season test at Phillip Island in Australia.

The Pata Maxus Yamaha rider made the decision to travel to Italy for round four this weekend after consulting with his medical team in Belfast.

Rea has been passed fit to race this weekend by the FIM Medical Director following an initial review on Thursday and a reassessment following his participation in FP1 on Friday morning.

placeholder image — Jonathan Rea made his World Superbike return at Cremona in Italy on Friday after missing the first three rounds of 2025 through injury. (Photo by Vaclav Duska Jr)

The 38-year-old ended the opening day 21st fastest and admits he physically “didn’t feel amazing” as he eases himself back.

“It’s been a difficult day but firstly, my foot feels fine riding,” said Rea, who set his best lap in 1m 30.547s on his debut at Cremona after missing last year’s inaugural race at the Italian track through injury.

“I had a couple of areas where my foot was in the wrong position and when I ride with my big toe on the foot peg it feels quite painful but generally it’s fine.

“Of course, it’s been a long time off the bike and physically, I didn’t feel amazing. However, I expected that to an extent and need some race fitness back.

“The R1 is quite different to when I last rode it and we worked through FP1 and FP2 with the same tyre set-ups to find the rhythm and still I didn’t feel fully comfortable.

“We made some changes but nothing has really ticked the box yet to let me stop the bike in the way I really want to, so that’s the focus for tonight to give me more confidence to reach the apex,” he added.

“We’ll try to make a step tomorrow but – even if it’s really tough – it’s great to be back with the team and re-starting the journey to being fully competitive.”

Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega topped the time sheets in 1m 29.158s, which was three tenths faster than reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad) in second place.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) was third quickest ahead of Team HRC’s Iker Lecuona, Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sam Lowes (Marc VDS Racing Ducati), with the top six covered by half-a-second.

Bulega, last year’s title runner-up, leads the championship by 21 points from Razgatlioglu after three rounds and will be looking to stretch his advantage on home soil.

“I arrive here confident,” Bulega said.

“At Assen, I was very strong and also the races before. I don’t really like this circuit because it doesn’t match very well with my riding style.”

His Aruba.it Ducati team-mate, Alvaro Bautista, crashed three times during Friday’s two free practice sessions and was eighth after day one behind Rea’s Yamaha team-mate Andrea Locatelli, who won his maiden World Superbike race last time out at Assen after race leader Bulega suffered a technical issue.

BMW’s Razgatlioglu is also making his debut at Cremona after missing the race in 2024 due to injuries sustained in a crash at Magny-Cours in France.

“I hope we see a good result here because last year I didn't compete here, I don't know what to expect, because after 10 laps the bike behaves completely differently,” Razgatlioglu said.

Final practice and Superpole qualifying takes place on Saturday with the first race at 13:00 BST.

On Sunday, the Superpole race is at 10:00 BST with Race 2 at 13:00 BST.