Jonathan Rea said it was “quite a shock” being back in a race situation on his World Superbike return as the six-time champion struggled with the physical exertions required at Portimao in Portugal.

The Honda HRC rider has replaced injury-hit Jake Dixon in the team for the second round of the championship and finished 19th in Saturday’s first race behind team-mate and WSBK rookie Somkiat Chantra, who was making his race debut after missing round one in Australia through injury.

On Sunday, Rea crossed the line in 18th place in the shorter Superpole race, while Thailand’s Chantra crashed out.

Italy’s Nicolo Bulega followed up his win on Saturday with another victory in the Superpole race for a double on the Aruba.it Ducati, with team-mate Iker Lecuona second in both races.

placeholder image — Honda HRC rider Jonathan Rea in action in Saturday's World Superbike race at Portimao in Portugal. (Photo credit: Honda HRC)

Former MotoGP rider Miguel Oliveira was third in each race for Shaun Muir’s ROKiT BMW team.

Rea, who will be back in action in Sunday’s final race (15:30 BST), said a lack of race fitness was his main issue.

The 39-year-old is competing in his first race weekend since last year’s finale at Jerez in Spain in October.

He battled injury setbacks in his final two seasons as a Yamaha rider after making the move from Kawasaki in 2024, and never really made an impact on the Yamaha R1.

The Ulsterman has taken on a new role as a test rider for Honda but Rea admits his racing return “hasn’t been ideal”.

“Considering the weekend hasn’t been ideal in terms of track time, with very short runs and a crash that didn’t help, we decided to try something different with the set-up for the race,” said Rea, reflecting on his 19th place result in Saturday’s opener.

“It may not have been ideal for the race itself, but in my position our main goal is to find the right direction for the bike’s development. There were some positives, but also some negatives.

“I made a decent start and had a good track position in the early laps, but physically it was tough and I started to struggle from mid-race on.

“I haven’t had a pre-season, and I’m not race fit yet, so it was quite a shock to be in a race situation.”

Former British Superbike champion Tommy Bridewell was a faller in Saturday’s race on the Superbike Advocates Ducati V4R but completed the Superpole race in 19th place, one position behind Rea.

Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) was fourth in the Superpole race ahead of brother Sam on the Marc VDS Racing Ducat in a repeat of their results on Saturday.

Yari Montella, who crashed out of second place in Saturday’s race, finished sixth (Barni Spark Racing Ducati).