Two top-five finishes at the Estoril World Superbike round left Jonathan Rea in a positive mood after the pe🎶n🎀ultimate round of the 2024 season.

Rea was fourth in Race 2, a result which was his best of the season in a full-distanc🐼e race.

Theꩵ only poor result for Reaꦐ was his 22nd in the Superpole Race, which came after a crash.

“About half distance I went into the chicane, and just as Iﷺ changed direction I had some chatter and just chattered off the edge of the tyre,” Rea told WorldSBK.com.

“I was pushing, of course, as well, ౠpushing on thꦬe limit. I really tried to save it.

“It caused no damage to the bike or my leathers, it was completely on my e𓃲lbow and my knee, and I tried to actually dig the front tyre in to hopefully pick me up, butꦯ it wasn’t coming around.

“Fortunately, tꦰhereಌ wasn’t anyone behind me or in my path.

“I was able to remount, and I actually posted my fastest lap of the race after that and when I wasn’t in traffic, so that gave me some confidence that𝔉, at least with the long race and with the race tyre, that I could do a solid enough job.

“But the class is stacked right now, so you have to really take benefit of track pos💜ition and do a really solid race just to have something to shout about at the end.”

Despite the crash, though, Rea said that his Race 2 was barely complicated by his poor Superpole Race result because hi🍨s start was so good.

“U𒆙nfortunately, just𒊎 didn’t start my morning great, so that meant I started 10th,” he said, “but that didn’t really matter because I made such a good start.

“T🔴hat 0-200kph was good, and I found myself in good track position for turn one.

“Iker [Lecuona] came past quite🏅 early, so there was the front group, and then Loka [Andrea Locatelli], Iker, an🐎d me.

“The rhythm was very similar, and then both those guys went down and s𒊎uddenly I found 🐲myself all on my own and I was so nervous.

“From that point, I just tried to do my rhythm — it felt lik🦂e I’d been riding on the limit, so I just backed off that little bit, but it was a long race, so it was just about trying not to make any mistakes.”

Rea took two top-fiv▨e finishes ✱from the races this weekend, leaving him feeling positive despite still significant gaps to the leaders.

“5-4 for the weekend, it’s bꦦy far and a💞way our best weekend, and something to build on for sure,” he said.

“The gap to the front is still quite big, but if we forget about that and look at the progress I’ve made and the team’s made in these last few rounds — coming back from injury in Aragon was a tou♕gh one, so to rebound here with some positivity, it’s been solid.”

It’s taken until round 11 of 12 for Rea to post his best results of 2024, something he says is down to hi♋m continuing to improve his understanding of the Yamaha R1, especially on new tyres.

“Our bike, we know its weaknesses, but we know it🌌’s strengths, and it’s about trying to exploit the best of the Yamaha R1,” he said.

“Honestly, I’m still ge🐬tting there, understanding how to get the best out of the bike with fresh tyres. I think slowly but surely we’re getting there.

“But, hopefully, if I’m there and capitalise and can start trusting the bike on theไ limit, I can get that track position and be less vulneဣrable to passes.

“I want to arrive tomorrow, but i🐼t really is step-by-step🎃, it’s taken a lot longer than I expected to understand everything.

“I have rea༒son 👍to be optimistic, we can’t give up on this. Especially, at the end of the season, we’re just starting to see some fruits of all our labour.”