Further setback for injured Jonathan Rea as six-time World Superbike champion also ruled out of second round in Portugal

The Northern Ireland rider suffered broken bones in his left foot following a crash in testing at Phillip Island in Australia, ruling him out of this weekend’s season-opener at Phillip Island in Australia.

The Pata Maxus Yamaha rider has returned home to Northern Ireland and has met with a surgeon, but the Portuguese round will come too soon for the 38-year-old, according to team boss Paul Denning, who also confirmed that Rea’s place in the team will be taken over at Portimao by a second rider alongside Andrea Locatelli.

“I think sad is the word, just sad to be away from the team, away from the bike, and particularly as he was starting to do so well and the flow was coming,” said Denning.

“He’s super disappointed but he’s back home. He’s seen a surgeon, and the next course of action will be… I don’t want to share anything that’s medically his private information, but he’s on it and doing everything he can to be ready as soon as he possibly can.

“Jonathan, all things being equal as we know today, unfortunately has no chance of testing or racing at Portimao, in mid and end of March are the two dates which are just too early for the complexity of the injury to heal, so we’ll have two riders on track but who it will be is very much to be confirmed.”

Italian Locatelli was 10th fastest in free practice on Friday at Phillip Island, with Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter the leading Yamaha contender on the GYTR GRT Yamaha in sixth.

Denning said: “Phillip Island is always a very special track, it’s very difficult to know where you are technically if you’ve moved forward or not and the winter test didn’t give us a clear indication due to the weather, but certainly on Johnny’s side there was significant progress in many areas.

“I think we’ll know a lot more when we do the Portimao test and race but the general feeling is that from a data perspective we have taken a step forward in some areas so now we just need to see if that is the case.”