The six-time WorldSBK champion was back mixing it with the likes of Alvaro𒁃 Bautista, albeit for a short period♛ in Race 1, before a race-long battle for second against Toprak Razgatlioglu in Race 2.

A rare sig🎃ht in 2023, Rea seemed to have more pace than Razgatlioglu throughout the race as made💛 several overtakes on the Yamaha ride.

• Yamaha: “We expected the regulation to be f🌠ollowed and 🔥it wasn’t” 
• Toprak: “I tried more than 100%,♋🔯 Rea is a WorldSBK legend”

Most of those came under 🔥heavy brakingꦓ for turn five, something other riders very rarely managed to do against the Yamaha rider.

But while his pace was strong, it w𒉰as no match for Bautista who eventually won from Razgatlioglu by over five seconds.

Afte💎r following Bautista during the early stages, Rea could see exactly where and why he 🍒was losing so much ground.

Rea began by saying: "On Sunday, my pace is OK! In the last part of Race 2, I could fight with Toprak and was enj🅠oying it. I think it shows that this weekend, we had a positiꦉve trend. 

"I could stop the bike quite well and had good mecha♉nical traction but I had nothing for Alvaro and Ducati. They had an incredible race. 

"The setup is so sharp and sometimes when we're trying to improve, we're going round🙈 and round because we don't really have anything new to try.&👍nbsp;

"There's nothing new coming on the chassis side. We're always tryi﷽ng to juﷺggle the parts we have, even old ones we have had for many years. What do we need to be competitive? 

"From a chassis perspective, we could look after the tyre a bit more and there's no substitute for horsepower. At Turn 1 and 2, I could take time out of Ducati,🌳 but by the time we're at Turn 5, I could lose two to three tenths. 

"All that you gain,ꦰ you lose it in areas that are free. We nee⛎d power but then, come other problems. We need to improve for sure."

Rea has 🌌🅺just three more rounds before he leaves Kawasaki to replace Razgatlioglu at Yamaha.

The rider who knows Rea better than most given their close ꦯbattles since 2021, the Turkish star thinks 🌼Rea will adapt well to his new challenge.

"I think for him, it’s a new challenge," added Razgatlioglu. "I respect him because it’s many years riding for Kawas♓aki and now is the biggest ch🔥ange. 

"I think good for him because sometimes you need to change and to mix and to have a new target.&꧂nbsp;

"After he saw🧸 me, maybe he’s thinking about a new challenge. He’s a very good rider, a🃏 WorldSBK legend and I think he’ll do a good job with Yamaha. We’ll see next year!"