Honda World Superbike star Jonathan Rea is still uncertain over whether he will get to ride in MotoGP next season but says that talks with HRC should commence within weeks.

Rea is a favourite son of Honda’s HRC racing arm having won the Suzuka Eight-Hours for them and two years ago he was given the opportunity to stand in for Casey Stoner on the RC213V for two races.

However, it wasn’t a fair trial as the Isle of Man resident’s brief was not to crash and bring the bike home in both races. He raced at San Marino and Aragon, switching from WSBK between meetings and having to contend with jet lag, and differences between tyres and brakes.

“It’s something I would still love to do but only on a competitive bike. There are some places in the Honda teams and contracts for a lot of riders are up at the end of this year, so we can start talks in the next couple of weeks,” said Rea, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“Sure, I think I could do a good job in MotoGP, the two rides I had on Casey’s bike were a great introduction but we need to sit down with Honda Japan and see what is possible.”