Jonathan Rea needs to 'step up' in quest to wrestle back World Superbike title for magnificent seventh crown

The Northern Ireland rider finished third in the championship last season behind Bautista and Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, winning six races on his Kawasaki.

Rea’s final victory of the season was achieved in the opening race of the finale at Phillip Island in Australia, where the 2023 championship blasts off with race one on Saturday.

Six-time champion Rea feels he has an improved package this year in the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, but the 36-year-old notes that Spaniard Bautista has been ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest during the final test at the spectacular Australian circuit as race day approaches.

Rea told the News Letter: “I’m really excited because there’s nothing that beats the anticipation and excitement for a new year.

“We had a really good, strong pre-season to be honest – I felt good with our new Ninja and the pre-event test here in Phillip Island is always a good gauge of where we really are.

“My race pace has been strong and solid, we just haven’t really pulled that one-lap magic out yet and put all the pieces in the jigsaw together.

“On Monday and Tuesday I looked pretty solid through the classification but Alvaro Bautista has been very strong, head and shoulders above the rest. We need to step up if we’re going to try and fight for a race win this weekend,” he added.

“The guys in the garage are working really hard to give me a bike to do that and right now I think we have a realistic chance of fighting for a podium, so that’s the target – to try and start the season solid, no mistakes, and that will give us a good chance heading to Lombok after here and then back to Europe.”

Rea was fifth fastest overall in the two-day test on Monday and Tuesday but the Ballyclare man is confident he can be in the mix this weekend to open the new campaign with a solid points haul.

“We’ve certainly made a step forward compared to our package last year but if we forget about comparing to Ducati and Alvaro, I feel happy with the step we have made,” he said.

“I think that differentiation we are talking about [Bautista and Ducati’s speed advantage] is going to be so hard to overcome unless we have this unified combined weight of rider and bike [rule].

“It’s something that has been put off until 2024 but let’s see, we just have to maximise our potential and try to minimise our weak points,” he added.

“Podiums are the target this weekend and if we can come away with more than that then I’ll be super-happy.”

Free practice gets under way at Phillip Island on Friday with the final free practice session taking place on Saturday ahead of Superpole qualifying (02:10 GMT).

Race one is at 05:00 GMT with the Superpole race on Sunday scheduled for 02:00 GMT and race two at 05:00 GMT.

Round two then follows swiftly with the Indonesian round at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on the island of Lombok next weekend.