World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea returns to track in Spain only a month after clinching record sixth title

Rea and his Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes are participating in a winter test on Tuesday and Wednesday, where they are joined by PATA Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu and new signing Andrea Locatelli, who won this year’s World Supersport crown in sensational style.

Factory Honda riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam are also in action at Jerez plus American Garett Gerloff and his new GRT Yamaha team-mate for 2021, Kohta Nozane.

Rea says he has been taking life at a slower pace over the past few weeks and the 33-year-old is glad to be back on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR in Spain.

“After winning the championship in Estoril life has been very quiet so it’s nice to go back to the track,” said Rea, who won 11 races this year to move onto 99 career WSBK victories.

“I’ve actually missed riding my bike a lot and in these strange times it’s something that brings me a lot of happiness. Jerez is a good track for us to test new ideas at because it’s a difficult layout and one where we can make some good improvements to the base of our ZX-10RR.

“We expect nice weather and I hope to be able to put many laps together and capitalise on that,” added Rea.

“It will also be good to catch up with my team and continue working calmly through our test items. My focus will be to enjoy riding and be clear with my comments.”

A further test at Motorland Aragon from November 25-26 will be the final outing of the year for Rea.

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