Jonthan Rea "so far away" in World Superbike title race but focused on ending 18-race winless streak at San Juan in Argentina

The Northern Ireland man has won five times this season, with his last victories achieved at Estoril in Portugal in May.

Rea’s prospects of clinching a seventh world crown are hanging by a thread after the 35-year-old fell 82 points behind championship leader and title favourite Alvaro Bautista following round nine at Portimao in Portugal earlier this month.

He is currently third overall with three rounds and nine races left, 26 points behind reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha).

However, while Rea admits that the title race is never over until it’s no longer a mathematical possibility, his main priority this weekend is to fight for race wins with Bautista and Razgatlioglu, who between them have won all 18 races held since Rea last stood on the top step, claiming nine victories apiece.

“You’re never out of the championship until it’s over but I’m so far away now we just have to think about maximising our opportunities, trying to be competitive again,” said Rea, who has chalked up a record 117 career wins since making his WSBK debut in 2008.

“Of course I want to be on the podium but I want to fight for race wins.

“Nobody deserves to win and here in Superbikes you have to really earn it and work for it, and that’s what we’ll do: we’ll roll our sleeves up, try and put a bike together that we can compete with and then it’s over to me.”

Rea, though, was disappointed not to end his winless streak last time out at Portimao in Portugal, a circuit where the Ulsterman has excelled over the years, winning 13 times.

“Portimao was a weekend that we really targeted to win a race there but we can’t be too hard on ourselves,” he said.

“I felt like we really made a step forward, just not enough; both Alvaro and Toprak are incredibly strong right now together with their teams, so it’s up to us to try and close that deficit down and challenge.”

The Argentinean round is the first of three successive fly-away trip as the championship builds towards the finale at Phillip Island in Australia (November 18-20), with Indonesia hosting the penultimate weekend before then (November 11-13).

Rea, who has won four of the eight races held at San Juan since Argentina was added to the World Superbike calendar in 2019, says he enjoys the different challenges posed at circuits outside Europe.

“I always get excited about the fly-aways because they bring something different – different feeling, culture circuits as well,” he said.

“Argentina is a pretty cool track and it’s got some different challenges, flowing fast sections and also some sections where you need to really stop the bike, and a very long back straight to contend with.

“But I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing how the grip level is firstly, and then working with my team to have a really good race set-up.”

Race one on Saturday is at 19:00 BST with the Superpole race on Sunday at 16:00 BST and race two at 19:00 BST.