Rea: “Clumsy big feet or pressure on the arm of the gear lever, zero idea”

The six-time WorldSBK champion finished second in both Race 1 and Sunday’s Superpole Race, and was firmly in contention to repeat that type of result before crashing at turn nine.

After seeing Toprak Razgatlioglu attempt a pass on Bautista for the lead, Rea chose to do the same one lap later although he faced the same outcome which was to be re-passed by the reigning world champion later in the lap.

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Rea then lost second place again to Razgatlioglu on lap six before his race-changing moment occurred. 

"It’s unfortunate that the weekend ended like that as we have a lot of positives to take away," said Rea. "I lost track position with Toprak early on but when I got back through, I had a little bobble coming out of the last corner and he came back through into Turn 1. 

"From there, it was difficult, because with Alvaro in front, I was able to understand the gap coming through the fast sections where I could grit my teeth and make up the margin coming through Turn 6 to Turn 8. 

"With Toprak in the middle, he was also in between mine and Alvaro’s speed there, so I wasn’t able to fully gain. Anyway, I was there and I was more comfortable than yesterday."

Still unsure how he crashed and whether it was his own mistake or something wrong mechanically, Rea said pressure on the arm of the gear lever was there all weekend.

Rea added: "Going into Turn 9, I crashed on the front, zero idea how, we’ll have to check some data. 

"There was some pressure on the gear cell, maybe I was putting some pressure on the arm of the gear lever… it’s been happening all weekend to be honest, but this one time, at Turn 9, as soon as I opened the throttle and engaged third gear, that was enough to take the engine breaking, lose traction and crash. 

"Frustrated, but we have more positives to take from this weekend than negatives. I felt like I wasn’t over my head, so whether it was clumsy big feet or mechanically how the arm of the gear shifter was and maybe we can improve something."