Jonathan Rea utilised just four hours of track action on Thursday to rack up 61 laps and the fastest of the Jerez test overall.

The KRT rider was laid back in his reaction to topping the times after sitting out of the earlier action but positive about the progress made with his 2022 Ninja ZX-10RR, despite by his own admission, an enjoyable holiday season.

With just a fortnight before the next test, at Portugal’s Autodromo do Algarve on February 8th and 9th, the 34-year-old is eager to continue working with his Kawasaki team ahead of the new season’s opening race in April.

“Times and positions don’t really matter at this time of the year but it was really nice to get back on the bike,” Rea said from the top of the standings. “I had felt OK on the bike, and very fast, in the December test but physically I was not so good after a lot of holiday time in the off-season.

“But after starting my winter training programme with my coach before Christmas I felt much better with the bike. Already we did a race simulation - because we have some new items on the bike we needed to test them with a long run. I was reluctant to do that but when we concluded I felt quite positive. We tested some chassis items here and Pirelli brought a new variation of tyre to try. We had some new electronic items as well.

“Now we need to re-test again at another track. We will be back in Portimao at the beginning of February. I am excited to go there and see how the 2022 version of our Ninja ZX-10RR works there.”

“The test was short, because we only did half a day today and did not ride on day one,” his Crew Chief Pere Riba added. “We did four hours in all. We focused mainly on the chassis side, because we are reconfirming things we did in December and comparing them with new items we built since the previous test.

“Johnny feels very positive, he is working very well, and the lap times were very strong. We did a long run and the result was positive. Johnny did a great, great job. We tested a new tyre for Pirelli and took some first information about the new electronics strategy. We are pleased with the result and now all the guys are looking forward to go to Portimao for the next test.”