World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea plays down prospects of dream win on Yamaha debut at Phillip Island

The Ulster rider marked his Kawasaki debut in 2015 at the iconic circuit with a win but six-time champion Rea was tempering expectations ahead of his first race for his new Pata Prometeon team on the R1 machine.

Rea featured prominently on the time sheets during winter testing at Jerez in Spain and Portimao in Portugal, but the 37-year-old was off the pace in Tuesday’s final test at Phillip Island, where he sustained bruising and abrasions in a crash.

Rea is hoping to make a step forward in free practice and qualifying before the curtain-raiser on Saturday (05:00 GMT), but he admits the prospect of making a winning start to his quest for seventh title is ‘a dream’.

“Right now, no – far from it to be honest,” said Rea of his chances of a win on Saturday. “I feel my ultimate pace hasn’t been so fast.

“I feel even my race rhythm is not fast and we need to improve to be honest. My feeling hasn’t been incredible since we got here. I really enjoyed Jerez and Portimao but we need to make a step here.

“Right now, winning my first race here with Yamaha is a dream. The reality is we have a lot of work to do to achieve that but we won’t give up, we’ll keep working and see where we finish.”

In an unexpected twist going into the first round of the season, Rea and his fellow competitors are required to make a mandatory pit-stop in each of the main races after the organisers decided that rear tyres should not be used for more than 11 laps.

The decision was taken on safety grounds, with the newly resurfaced track at Phillip Island offering much higher levels of grip, increasing tyre consumption.

Rea said: “Everybody knows that at Phillip Island tyre consumption is the big key, so it kind of puts that out the window and it’s two sprint races, which require a different set-up for the bike.

“You don’t need to look after the rear tyre as much but it’s certainly exciting – part of me enjoys the pit-stop.

“It puts a bit more pressure on the boys but hopefully we can do a good job and come out with our heads held high.”