Jonathan Rea endures 'super difficult day' as Yamaha World Superbike rider struggles to 16th in free practice in Australia

Rea only completed a handful of laps in the morning session on Friday when the track at Phillip Island began to dry in the final 10 minutes of FP1.

The six-time champion, gearing up for his race debut on the Pata Prometeon Yamaha on Saturday (05:00 GMT), experienced issues with corner exit on the R1, which continued in the afternoon session.

His best lap of 1m 30.097s left him 1.055s down on former Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes, who led the way on Friday.

Rea was still feeling some discomfort following a big crash in the final test on Tuesday, although the Ulsterman says his condition is improving day by day.

“Super difficult day, as you could see I didn’t do many laps on track – not only due to the weather,” said Rea.

“We suffered some issues straight away this morning, probably continued on from the test and struggled to pinpoint exactly what the problem is.

“The guys are still trying to understand why the bike was very difficult to ride – we’ve been changing the set-up and trying to get on top of it.

“It’s not exactly how I imagined ‘day one’ of the season to start but we are where we are, and I have full confidence in the team that we can find the root of this issue and be stronger tomorrow,” he added.

“In terms of the crash, I feel much, much better than yesterday – and yesterday better than the day before – every day it’s getting better.

“Of course, I still have some growing to do with the R1 so now is the time to be calm and if tomorrow I can roll out of pit lane as ‘day zero’ as they say and I can find the rhythm fast enough, I say with optimism that hopefully we can fight for a good result.”

Kawasaki’s Lowes claimed the top spot by 0.059s from World Superbike rookie and reigning Supersport champion Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati), with Rea’s Yamaha team-mate Andrea Locatelli only 0.096s further in arrears in third.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati), Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW) and Sam Lowes (Marc VDS Ducati) were next as the first six were separated by 0.250s.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was 10th on the second of the factory ROKiT BMW machines, 0.365s down on Lowes, while reigning champion Alvaro Bautista was 12th quickest (Aruba.it Ducati).

Both main races this weekend will include a mandatory pit-stop after the organisers decided that rear tyres should not complete more than 11 laps in race conditions on safety grounds.

The Phillip Island circuit has been newly resurfaced, significantly increasing grip but also accelerating tyre degradation. The race distance has also been reduced to 20 laps.

Sunday’s second race will be held at 05:00 GMT after the 10-lap Superpole race (02:00 GMT).