World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea says he has 'more potential than the result shows' after free practice at Donington Park

A technical issue with his Pata Prometeon Yamaha hampered his early progress at the Leicestershire circuit but Rea is now aiming to haul himself further up the time sheets on Saturday ahead of the opening race of the weekend at 14:00 BST.

The 37-year-old was 12th fastest after day one at his home round of the championship, with title leader Toprak Razgatlioglu leading the way for BMW Motorrad.

Rea, who goes into round five in 14th in the standings and still chasing a maiden podium for Yamaha after his big move from Kawasaki, said: “We lost a lot of the first session due to a technical problem, and the guys weren’t exactly sure of the issue causing it, but we changed a lot of components in the bike and in FP2 it was gone.

“I didn’t really build up, but I got enough of a feeling to know that the bike felt good here.

“In the beginning of the second session I started with a long run with race tyres and just built my confidence working more precisely with electronics to set up the engine brake to Donington for my style.

“That’s an area we still need to improve a bit. We put in a new tyre right at the end and we just missed getting a second fast lap – in my first lap, I lost a lot of traction, it just wasn’t a perfect lap,” he added.

“We know there’s a little bit more potential than the result shows. It’s been a bit of a frustrating day because we couldn’t build into the day from FP1.

“A solid job, we didn’t change the bike too much, I just got some laps in the afternoon to build confidence and understand the R1 here and sector-by-sector just putting it together.”

Rea has yet to achieve the results he would have hoped for as a Yamaha rider but he says he has no regrets over his decision to leave Kawasaki after nine success-laden seasons.

“Of course, I don’t regret any decision coming to Yamaha,” he said.

“I think I came for a different challenge in my career, and I’ve certainly found that.

“We say in English, ‘you’re always looking for the light at the end of the tunnel’ in difficult moments. I can see the light, but I’m nowhere near there yet.

“I know we’re going to find that way. As a racer, you want it tomorrow.

“Maturity has told me let’s ride this way and it’s going to come.”

Alex Lowes was the best of the Brits at Donington on Friday in free practice, setting the fourth fastest time for the Kawasaki Racing Team.

Razgatlioglu was 0.2s ahead of Danilo Petrucci on the Barni Spark Ducati and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati).

Scott Redding was fifth quickest on the Bonovo Action BMW ahead of reigning champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati).

On Sunday, the Superpole race is at 11:00 BST with the second race scheduled for 14:00 BST.