​Jonathan Rea has secured his first ever World Superbike championship at Jerez after finishing the first race in fourth place after a long battle with former team-mate Leon Haslam.

Rea just had to finish inside the top ten to win the title, and he did it with aplomb as he took fourth behind Michael Van Der Mark, Chaz Davies and race-winner Tom Sykes.

Sykes led the battle from the very first lap, grabbing the holeshot into turn one ahead of his Kawasaki team-mate Rea and as the race progressed the former bossed proceedings from the front and managed his rear tyre drop as everyone else began to struggle.

Rea was initially able to live with Sykes but slowly fell back into the clutches of Ducati’s Davies and then the Pata Honda of Van Der Mark as it looked like tyre trouble had set in very early.

With the title victory, Rea becomes Great Britain’s first World Superbike champion since Sykes and Northern Ireland’s first World Champion since Joey Dunlop and Brian Reid took the Formula 1 and 2 titles back in 1986.

“It feels like a little bit of a weight off my shoulders. I have always believed that we were capable of winning a world championship right after I had stepped off a World Supersport bike onto a Superbike. Now, in this moment, it just feels like my time to be honest,” said Rea.

“It feels a bit like everything has gone my way a bit, even when a couple of things could have gone wrong. Like when the rain came in Portimao and I had a slide with the front in the wet, and caught it on my knee. When I had a big moment at Donington in lap one, and I landed straight back on the seat again, and was able to pick up a second place.”