Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea reckons taking his debut World Superbike win on Ducati's homeground made his last-lap victory bid even sweeter and wants to repeat the performance at Donington Park this weekend.

In race one, Rea’s number one bike developed a fuel problem on the sighting lap and he was given a ride back to the pits by his Ten Kate team-mate, Ryuichi Kiyonari.

Both riders were given a ride-through penalty for contravening regulations, a punishment compounded by Rea being denied access to the grid on his spare machine. He was forced to start the warm-up lap from pit lane and the race from the back of the grid but fought through to seventh after changing bikes due to a drying track.

Rea’s performance in race two was even more impressive. Starting from second place on the grid, the Northern Irishman slipped past Noriyuki Haga for the lead on lap four. Haga and his Ducati team-mate, Michel Fabrizio, each took turns at the front later in the race, but Rea dived past the Italian early in the final lap and held him at bay to take a stunning victory.

"It really bodes well for us all for the rest of the season. We knew we had the pace this weekend but race one was a pretty bad situation. I needed to start with scrubbed tyres in the wet but the problem on the sighting lap finished that plan," said Rea.

"With the penalties and brand new tyres and having destroyed my footrest and rear brake in the crash with Kiyo, it was difficult, so seventh was about as good as we could have hoped for. Race two was great and, as soon as I knew I had the pace to match the two Ducatis I was comfortable.

"I tried a few different lines in the closing laps to probe and find the best way through. When I got past Fabrizio, it was pretty straightforward. It’s really nice to win here in Italy, in Ducati’s back yard, where we thought it would be quite hard. But we’ve come leaps and bounds recently and hopefully we can fight at the front in every race."