Reigning World Superbi🃏ke champion Jonathan Rea has laid down a marker to his rivals with a stunning late time attack during the final track action of 2019 on the second day of the Jerez test as he also go🐬t to grips with a thumb-operated rear brake on his Kawasaki.

Despite tricky track conditions due to an earlier oil spill that had been cleaned up with cement dust, the five-time world champion notched up a 1🌞m 38.397s using a Pirelli qualifying tyre to comfortably top the test timesheet – with the lap quick enough to put him inside the top 10 from the MotoGP test times from the start of the week at the✅ Spanish circuit.

Earlier in the test Rea experimented with a thumb rear brake lever and d💫ifferent engine braking amongst other new parts for 2020 which left the Northern Irish 🍸rider content.

“Overall it was pretty good. I had good motivation for this test. Normally at the end of a busy season it is easy to♊ get lost, but we focused on quality rather than quantity. We did a lot of back-to-back testing of things we had ideas to try out during th🤡e year,” Rea said. “Then we tested some new items and new ideas.

“The biggest thing was in my riding position on th✤e bike and getting used to the rear brake lever on the handlebar, plus some different engine braking.”

Reflecting o🌸n his impressive late qualifying-style laps, Rea felt he cou🌳ld have gone even faster given the track conditions but with a dominant gap to his rivals he was satisfied with a strong end to his 2019 track action.

“At the end we could do a time attack with a qualifying tyre and that put us right there. ♔It was hard at the end doing that, because a couple of hours before൩ the session finished there was oil all over Turn 1,” he said.

“The 𒁏track was compromised a bit but I still feel that we did a really good job at this test, both with our outright pace and also consistency. We are where we should be and I am really happy to sign off on an incredible 2019.”

Rea and Kawasaki restart pre-season testing in late Januaryꦿ before heading to Phillip Island for the 2020 World Superbike ch🅰ampionship opener which takes place between February 28-March 1.