Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea says he is in a strange situation at Portimao's World Superbike finale this weekend as he is there to race to but to also continue development work on his 2012 Fireblade and its ride-by-wire electronics.

The young Irishman has been let down by the bike at the last two races when small and inexpensive parts have seen him retire but Rea is looking forward to riding at the circuit where he made his WSB debut back in 2008.

I really like the Portimao circuit. I made my World Superbike debut there in 2008 and just missed out on a podium, but I’ve had a lot of other good experiences there. It’s been an interesting month since I came back from injury and, of course, the win at Imola was amazing," said Rea.

"But we’re still working hard on the development of elements of the 2012 bike, so it’s a slightly strange situation – racing and testing at the same time. Magny-Cours gave us some different set-up issues to Imola, which just showed that it’s not an easy process, and Portimao is another circuit with its own characteristics. While the testing and development work will continue at Portimao, it would be nice to finish the season on a high, so we can go into the winter in a confident frame of mind."