Jonathan Rea made his Kawasaki World Superbike debut on Monday and immediately impressed on the Ninja ZX-10R, lapping half-a-second slower than team-mate Tom Sykes.

The Ulsterman, who finished third in this year’s championship behind Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli and Yorkshireman Sykes, set a best lap in 1m 52.7s at Motorland Aragon in Spain on the 2015 machine.

The 27-year-old is riding for a different manufacturer for the first time after a long association with Honda and quickly settled into his stride on the new Kawasaki.

Rea was soon at ease with the riding position of the ZX-10R as he spent the first day searching for a base set-up position and gelling with his new crew.

The Northern Ireland star, who will be among the special guests at the annual Adelaide Motorcycle Awards in Belfast in January, later took to Twitter to declare the his first impressions of the bike as ‘very positive’.

The test at Aragon concludes on Tuesday but Rea and Sykes will travel to Jerez for a further shakedown, which commences next Monday.

Ducati riders Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies led the unofficial time sheets yesterday, lapping in 1m 51.3s to finish joint fastest.

Wet weather and low temperatures prevailed in the morning but improved as the day wore on, with the track drying out by noon.

A host of new technical regulations will come into force in WSBK next year, including a reduction in permissible levels of engine tuning and a limit on the cost of electronics and other key racing components.





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