'That's cool, eh?' Jonathan Rea hails record 250th World Superbike podium at Donington Park

The Northern Ireland man finished third behind Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha).

It was Rea’s first podium since Catalunya in Barcelona at the beginning of May, although the 36-year-old still remains winless in 2023. His last win was at the final round of the championship last season at Phillip Island in Australia.

“That’s cool, eh?” said Rea, who held off Danilo Petrucci (Barni Ducati) on the final laps to claim the final rostrum position, six seconds behind winner Bautista.

“I keep the winning ones [trophies] but I’ve recycled quite a few second and third-place ones, giving them to little clubs and stuff.

“It’s incredible. It makes me feel very proud and very old! To hang around for 250 podiums is a long time in my career but I’ve found an amazing home in World Superbike and I’ve enjoyed each and every podium.

"Each one has a great story, so long may it continue.”

Rea achieved his first podium in the series in 2009 at Kyalami, taking third in race two.

His nearest rival in the all-time podium standings is former racer Troy Corser on 130.

Reflecting on Saturday’s opening race, Rea added: “Trophies and records are great but the feeling on the bike today was okay; I thought in the beginning of the race when Toprak was there in front I actually felt the rhythm was fine and I thought ‘I’m going to be good today’.

“But as soon as Alvaro came past – he came past with so much grip and acceleration in areas – I thought ‘there’s no chance’.

“I sort of left it a bit and thought I haven’t done a race distance on the tyre, and I don’t know what’s going to happen,” added Rea, who started from pole.

“Toprak made a gap and at the end I was under some pressure from Petrucci, and I was pushing.

“The lap time was okay and tomorrow I can afford to waste the tyre a bit more in the middle part of the race.”

Ulsterman Rea remains fourth in the championship, 16 points behind Pata Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli in third but 178 behind runaway title favourite Bautista.

In a revised schedule for Sunday, the Superpole race will take place at 13:00 BST with race two at 16:00 BST.