Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea finished this afternoon’s World Superbike first qualifying session in fifth but even though he was in close contention with GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies’s provisional pole position time, the Northern Irish lad still has issues that he hopes his team can resolve, in particular with corner entry.

After making a mistake that left him 0.6 seconds adrift in the first sector, 26-year-old Rea, ended his best lap just 0.4 seconds off Davies’s time, with a 1’55.434. The rider is hoping to improve tomorrow but is ‘satisfied’ with the progress he made today.

“I made a bit of a mistake in turn one on my fastest lap after we’d fitted some new tyres, but I concentrated on trying to do a long run this afternoon to try and get some rhythm. We made some positive changes and some steps in the right direction but I’m struggling a bit with corner entry,” said Rea.

“We just need to smooth out the feeling from the rear and then I know the time will come more easily because I’ll be able to pinpoint the line more accurately. For day one I’m quite satisfied, to be honest. It’s clear we need to find some pace but it’s not so worrying because we know where to find it.”