Being a four-time champion and capable of winning WorldSBK races at will over the previous four years must make no race wins in nine so far – and nine runner-up spots – a difficult and new reality for Jonathan Rea and KRT to deal with.

They even made uncharacteristic errors in Superpole, starting the first two Motorland races from tenth place. Rea and the squad still have no definitive answers for the runaway Alvaro Bautista.

Given that KRT and Rea are conducting their operations at the same level as before, higher in fact, the logical conclusion is that the combination of Bautista and the number 19 factory Ducati is genuinely unbeatable right now.

Rea had hoped for more from Sunday, in each of the two races, but by that he has to accept that this means being closer to the winner rather than actually winning himself.

“The strategy was different,” Rea told bikesportnews.com. “Especially in the sprint race, I lost a lot of rear traction at the end. We think it was a consequence of being so fast in the beginning for my pace I was very fast in the first laps.

“During the 18-lap race I decided to be calmer in the beginning but when Alex Lowes came through he had a good pace with Chaz Davies. I started to - not stress - but panic a little bit that maybe these guys had an extra gear.

And then Leon came past, so I had to step up and really use the tyre that I was conserving.

“My body language was a lot different at the end of the race because I really put my head down and maximised where we were strong.”

Rea does feel his bike does some things better than even the new and highly GP-aping Ducati. “It looks like our bike is really creating a lot of traction in the long corners, which is positive. Like turn ten and the last corner, compared to Ducati, and our corner entry is not so bad as well.

Now we need to try to get the bike to turn more naturally because, especially riding with the Yamaha, the bike is turning very well and then of course there is nothing we can do in the straight up and down sections.

“We are really losing a lot, especially in that sector four. Even when getting a much better punch out of 15 compared to the Ducati – as soon as they select the next gear we can barely hold the draft.

“Unfortunately, that is how it is right now. We are really maximising the potential of the bike.”

With his team-mate Leon Haslam right in there fighting with him on Sunday, but on a different tyre option, Rea is looking forward to planning the next potential change in approach.

“It was nice to see Leon in the front as well because our data becomes more relevant to compare and we can try to move the bike set-up forward together.

“It is also good to compare the data because I used a completely different front tyre this weekend compared to most other riders.”

“I really enjoyed the racing, especially that race,” he added. “I felt like I was really on the back foot and having to throw everything at it with five to go.

I didn’t have so much rear traction left, but I stopped trying to look after the tyre and just threw the kitchen sink at it.

“It worked, Chaz made a mistake at turn one and I tried to capitalise on that and put my head down for the rest of the lap.

“I was quite nervous going down the back straight, but I managed to hit my braking marker and keep it tight around the last corner and get the job done.”