Rea: Win a "nice present, but we need to be realistic"’

It was by far the longest that Rea - a six-time world champion with a record 118 wins to his name heading into the event - has ever waited to taste victory during a WorldSBK season.

The breakthrough came when Rea and Kawasaki grabbed the opportunity posed by pre-race rain.

Although wet tyre riders filled the top four places in the early stages Rea, in fifth, was in a class of his own compared to the others on intermediates.

When the drying track then forced the wet tyre riders to pit, Rea was left 12 seconds clear of the field.

Although Toprak Razgatlioglu, also on intermediates but just 13th in the early stages, put on a determined late charge, Rea was still four seconds clear of the Yamaha star at the chequered flag.

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"I knew sat on the grid that it was a good opportunity for us to try to push for a race win,” Rea, absent from the top step of the podium for 252 days, told WorldSBK.com.

“I made a good start and was there with the guys on wet tyres and from then on I knew intermediates were the right choice.

“The gap in the middle of the race was quite big to Toprak in the others, but after the bike started moving a lot because the set-up was quite soft to take benefit in the beginning.

“So it was about managing the bike and tyres using my pit board.

"It’s a nice present to my team and crew for all the hard work...This win will give us a nice feeling tonight but we’re still not in a position to fight for wins in normal conditions.

"We need to be realistic. But we’ll take this win, be proud of it and keep working to try to be at the front week in, week out.”

Rea, who qualified sixth in Superpole, has now taken third in the world championship from Andrea Locatelli.