Injured World Superbike star Jonathan Rea 'hasn't completely ruled out Assen return' but admits Dutch round may come too soon

Six-time champion Rea missed the first two rounds of the season in Australia and Portugal after sustaining fractures to his left foot following a crash during a test at Phillip Island in late February, which happened only a few days before the season-opener.

The Pata Maxus Yamaha star underwent surgery in Belfast on his return home from Australia and has been fighting his way back to fitness.

Rea joined his Yamaha team at Portimao over the weekend and watched on as team-mate Andrea Locatelli clinched a podium in Saturday’s race, with the Italian crossing the line in third behind triple winner Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati).

The 38-year-old, whose place in the team was filled by former British Superbike challenger Jason O’Halloran at the Portuguese round, hopes to have a clearer picture around a timeframe for his comeback this week.

Assessing his prospects of returning at Assen from April 11-13, Rea said: “I haven’t completely ruled it out but it’s probably against a lot of medical advice.

“It’s quite a severe injury and it takes time to recover. Assen’s just early. We’ll have that conversation this week. Thinking ahead, it’s just week by week.

“I’m not allowed to put weight through my foot right now, I can only mark it on my crutches. That means I need to be walking and functional, not put myself at risk when I return to racing.

“That’s at the forefront of our mind but I’m working like an animal at home to be in the best shape I can be, to get back to my bike, because I really miss it. I’ve been at home and thinking about not riding was tough,” the record 119-time race winner told the official World Superbike website.

“I’m treating every day like a work day and hopefully I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Locatelli’s podium at Portimao has given Yamaha reason for optimism but Rea, who was a disappointing 13th in the championship in his debut season on the R1 last year, says there is “still a lot of work to do” to bridge the gap to BMW’s Razgatlioglu and Ducati contender Bulega.

“Not just that but I felt there was reason to be optimistic even at Phillip Island,” Rea said. “All winter, I feel like I’ve been right at the front with race pace and feeling good with the bike. We hadn’t used the Superpole tyres.

“I think there’s some reason for optimism but still a lot of work to do. We need to be fighting right at the front; right now, Toprak and Nicolo seem to have that little bit of advantage over everybody.

“Step by step, we’re getting there, and the work ethic looks really good from the outside.”