Repsol Honda stand-in rider Jonathan Rea has described his first day as a MotoGP rider as a disaster as ropey conditions meant he got minimal laps on a damp track and not the 90 minutes of dry weather he desperately needed.

The likeable Irishman has only had two and a half days riding Casey Stoner's RC213V and had hoped to spend today getting more used to the Bridgestone tyres - or more how much lean angle can be carried into corners to load up the stiffly-constructed hoops.

"It was a pointless exercise really. I don't understand the bike enough anyway but to come to a new circuit to re-adapt, the temperature wasn't enough to get heat in the slick tyres. The top riders aren't snobs sitting in the garage, it wasn't hot enough," said Rea, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"There wasn't enough water on the track to make a wet last any longer so for me it was a disaster really. I learnt nothing really, except lunch is pretty good! I spent one and a half days at Aragon, I had to leave after lunch to go to the Nurburgring but at the end I started to feel good, ready to go to Misano and carry on this feeling. I need more heat in the ground to be able to push."