Jonathan Rea ended the Portuguese World Superbike weekend having suffered a technical glitch in Race🍃 1, suffering for pace in the Superpole Race, but also having come through to sixth in Race 2.

It meant 👍that Rea ended the weekend with mixed feelings about th🃏e Portuguese round.

“It’s been a positive weekend in some ways,” Rea said😼, “as we improved my feeling wit𝓀h the R1 a lot.

“But Portimao has highlighted where we need to♒ improve. Yesterday in Race 1 💞I had a good rhythm and pace until we had the technical issue, and today in the Superpole race I got a good start but fighting in the group proved difficult when everyone had grip.

“That compromised our start p𒊎osition for Race 2, I had to start P11. I made a good start, but I got inv🐓olved in a few fights.”

The latter part of the race was bꦆetter for Rea, as he was able to make the most of the Yamaha’s strength on used tyres.

“When ⛄I got through I focused on both van der Mark and Petrucci and even though the gap was there, I managed to close them down as one of our strengths with the R1 is pace on used tyres, so I was able to make use of that and stick a strong pass on𒁏 [van der Mark] on the last lap.”

Rea ende🏅d the Portimao weekend feeling like he’d found improvements with his bike, but with the disappointment of having scored results below his expectations.

“I’ve got mixed emoti🌄ons as it’s the best I’ve felt with the bike from a chassis point of view and was able to use the bike’s strengths much better,” he said.

“All in all, it’s been a confidence inspiring weekend as from a feeling point of view, and with the electronics, I’ve gained more trust to ride the bike more like I should. Credit to Andrew [Pitt, Rea’s crew chief] and the crew as they arrived with a setup which gave me some more direct f🦄eedback from the rear of the bike, so hopefully we can take this🔴 on to Magny Cours.”