World Superbike Champion-elect Jonathan Rea had to sit out the first half of today’s only dry session at the Sepang round with electronics problems.
The works Kawasaki man was limited to just 25 minutes of track time in free practice one as the heavens opened ahead of the second session but still managed to finish third on the combined sheets with a 2'05.382, six-tenths behind Max Biaggi but ahead team-mate Tom Sykes who is the only man capable of stopping Rea from taking the title this year.
“We had some problems with the bike this morning which meant I was in the box for 20 minutes and we couldn’t make any changes to the electronics but nevertheless we made a good time at the end of FP1. We have some things to try in the morning so I hope that it isn’t wet,” said Rea.
“Tom has been strong of late so in terms of the championship it will be tough to wrap it up here. We will work hard ahead of Superpole and try some things in both sessions tomorrow before qualifying to be in the best position for the races.”
