Jonathan Rea Second In First Race At Motorland Aragon

Rea started from fifth place, on the second row of the grid, after the early morning Superpole qualifying, whilst Sykes claimed pole position.

Sykes led for the first three laps but was passed by eventual race winner Davies, and then Rea, who would hold onto second place.

Rea had evaluated some new set-ups on Friday but went back to a more conventional setting today, using Superpole to make his final selections for the first race itself. After finding feel and feedback in the early laps he moved forward to his eventual second place result and finished 4.168 seconds from the win.

This fifth race of the season delivered podium finish number five for Rea, who has not finished lower than second so far.

In the overnight championship points table, before race two plays out at 13.00 local time tomorrow, Rea has 115 points, Sykes 82 and Davies is now third with 80.

Jonathan Rea stated: “I am satisfied because if you cannot win you should finish second. Today we did that at a track that has been really strong for Chaz in the past. In the beginning of the race I was still understanding the bike because the first time we had used our complete race set-up was in Superpole. I was learning in the early laps. This morning we went back to more like what we had before. Now we need a bit more grip and to improve things under braking for tomorrow. We can go back and understand my rhythm now and take things from there to make the bike even better. I know we can be closer tomorrow.”

Pole position : Tom Sykes - 1m 49.374 - 167.107 km/h
Fastest lap : Chaz Davies - 1m 50.421 - 165.523 km/h
Circuit record lap : 2016 Chaz Davies - 1m 50.421 - 165.523 km/h
Circuit Best Lap : 2016 Tom Sykes - 1m 49.374
Temperature : Air 15°C / Track 30°C
Humidity : 41%