Reigning WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea was limited to only 42 laps at the Aragon test after the illness that caused his team problems at the Spanish circuit hit the Isle of Man resident hard yesterday.

Rea managed to challenge team-mate Tom Sykes - who was sick on Sunday - for top spot and was only 0.020s behind the Huddersfield rider after only ‘doing what we needed to do’. He ended with a 1’49.388s lap, just outside Chaz Davies’ outright lap record but on a race tyre.

“We did not try a Q tyre today but used the SC0 because it was hotter than it was over race weekend. I do not feel any better than yesterday, to be honest I feel horrible. I tried to make a really good effort with the laps we did do, so we tested what we needed to test. Front suspension settings, and it brought some positives and some negatives. A work in progress really,” said Rea.

“Then we worked on testing some new front tyres for Pirelli which we expect to be coming to the next races, for some feedback. I was not up for doing too many laps today but my pace was good. I don’t think I even did one lap in the 1’51s. Our package is pretty good because if I want to go out and push for a lap time I can make it happen and if I want to do a long run I can make it happen, and be consistent. We are in a good position right now.”