Championship leader Jonathan Rea has confirmed it was a gearbox issue which put him out of today’s race at the Lausitzring.

The 2015 champion highsided out on Lap 16 at the German track, blowing the title fight wide open between him and his Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes.

Rea had been running well in third place in today’s race at the German track when he crashed out, and has revealed it was a gearbox problem which caused him to highside.

“It’s really frustrating, it was a gearbox problem,” he said. “Going into T 10 I just found a false neutral and the problem is when you’re racing and riding at this level right on the limit there’s no room for error.

“When I found the neutral I had no engine breaking, I couldn’t stop for the corner but I still tried to find first but it wasn’t pretty. The gears were grinding and then right at the last moment when I was about to just bail out and go in the gravel, first gear came in when I was at lean angle and it highsided me.”

The crash has given Sykes the chance to close the gap in the championship to just 26 points, but Rea refuses to be drawn on what this means for his title defence. Instead, he says he would rather concentrate on the here and now.

“We can’t think about the championship it’s too early. We just have to go out tomorrow and do the best job we can. The positive thing here is no matter what happens here tomorrow I’ll still leave with the championship lead so I’m not thinking about that.

“Honestly today, I felt really good on the bike compared to yesterday. It wasn’t perfect, I was riding quite hard to stay with Tom but I learnt so much so we can apply that tomorrow so hopefully I can ride at that pace easier

“The championship is going to be what it’s going to be, luckily the next races are really good for me, I really enjoy Magny Cours and Jerez and also Qatar so I’m not worried about the fight. If I have to come out fighting with a zero points score then that’s when it’s time to come out but for now I’ll just keep doing my job.”