Jonathan Rea details where it went wrong in Race 1 at Aragon

Jonathan Rea was forced to settle for P14 in Race 1 at the Aragon World Superbike Championship round.

The Yamaha rider was passed fit earlier in the weekend after thumb surgery.

It was an injury which kept him out of the Cremona round - but he encountered different problems when returning at Aragon.

Rea finished 13th in the Superpole race then edged briefly into the top 10 until front grip cost him.

“Overall disappointed with the result, but in the first 10 laps of the race I felt quite competitive,” Rea reacted.

“I was in the back of the long train, not losing too much overall time to be honest: there was areas where I felt stronger than the guys in front, but also areas where I struggled to pass.

“In the last third of the race, I really struggled with front tyre traction entering the corner and turning, so that compromised everything.

“I had a little bit of rear tyre drop, but most of the issues were coming from the front – I couldn’t stop the bike in the same way as the beginning of the race and I couldn’t maintain the lap time.

“Scott Redding came through at Turn 12 on Lap 14 and I lost track position to Loka, Scott and eventually Bassani as well from being off the track.

“That was unfortunate and I just lost the tow so it was a case of trying to bring the bike home and gather some information for tomorrow.”

Teammate Andrea Locatelli was seventh in the Superpole then 10th in Race 1.

Locatelli said: “I can take some positives from today but in the end the result is P10.

“Unfortunately, I made a mistake after I started very well, but this can happen when you are taking risks to keep the pace.

“We know what we are missing and we were a bit “unlucky” in the first part of the race because I went wide on Turn 8 where the track is a bit dirty.

“When I made the change of direction in Turn 13, I almost crashed and lost three seconds. With three seconds less on our race time, we would have been fighting for the top five.

“But, in any case, we need to keep what is positive for us: we made a good lap during the Superpole, and while we are a bit far from the front, if we can improve a little bit we will be closer.

“We have two more possibilities for tomorrow to try again. I want to believe until the end because maybe there can be a good opportunity, we just need to be ready.

“My bike was not bad, we did good work yesterday with everyone – the electronics and the set-up – so we will keep this confidence for tomorrow and try to make another step.”