Jonathan Rea's Race One performance at the Circuito Estoril was plagued by brake issues midway through the race.

Saturday at the Estoril World Superbike Round was a positive day for Jonathan Rea and the Pata Maxus Yamaha squad.

The six-time World Superbike Champion was able to use Nicolo Bulega as a marker in Superpole and secured a sixth-place grid slot for Race One and the Superpole Race.

In Race One, Rea was able to get off to a good start and was in the fight with Alvaro Bautista for the final podium place. However, the British rider ran into brake issues and ended up slipping back through the order to sixth place.

"In the beginning of the race I felt really good," Jonathan Rea said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 1 in Estoril.

"Alvaro [Bautista] was making some mistakes, I was able to be really clean in most of the corners and just lose out from the exit of the last corner to turn one. But sectors two and three, I had it together, and then every time I could almost take the slipstream.

"But in the middle of the race, I had a big moment in turn one where the lever came back to the bar and that allowed Alex [Lowes] and Andrea [Locatelli] to arrive. Then they passed me the very next lap on the straight.

"So, just ran into some brake issues in the middle of the race. We had this issue this morning, we thought with changing discs we could iron the problem out, but it sort of showed its head again so we really need to check what’s up with that."

"I think we’re too much in the rear," he said, when discussing the general bike balance.

"When I start to release the brake, the front’s popping up and sitting in the rear, and then I’m turning a lot on the rear, so I really am using a lot of rear tyre. So, I think we can improve that area, and then try and understand what’s happening with these brakes.

"Honestly, when you’re arriving at [turn one at] 320kph (198mph), more or less, when you don’t know if the lever’s going to be in the position you expect it to be in, it’s scary. I had a trip to the gravel this morning with that.

"So, if I can fix that confidence issue in the latter stages of the race, I know the brake’s going to be fine, we should be a lot stronger.

"The bike was not so bad. I think especially in the last long corner, the bike just wasn’t turning amazing after the grip had dropped, and mechanical traction is still something we need to focus on.

"Everywhere else, the bike was good, I was enjoying it. Being in that battle for the top-five was really nice."