Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea described his official MotoGP debut at Brno on Monday as ‘one of the best days of my life’.

The 25-year-old World Superbike rider has been been drafted into the factory Repsol Honda team as a replacement for reigning champion Casey Stoner, who requires ankle surgery following a crash at Indianapolis in the United States.

Australian star Stoner is expected to miss the next two rounds of the MotoGP series at Misano on September 16 and Aragon on September 30, paving the way for Rea to make his race bow in the illustrious championship for the current world champions.

Rea, who previously tested for the Repsol Honda team at Sepang in Malaysia on the 800cc machine in December 2010, completed 61 laps of the Czech Republic circuit on the 1000cc RC213V.

He was five seconds off the top time in the morning session, but improved in the afternoon to end the day 3.1 seconds off the fastest lap of the post-Brno race test set by Cal Crutchlow on the Tech 3 Yamaha.


Rea said:

“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for me and I’m thankful to Honda for asking me to be here, although I’m gutted for the guys in the team and obviously for Casey as he is the guy that should be here and I wish him a fast recovery.

“My first impressions are that the bike isn’t that difficult - it’s the tyres and the way they work that I’m finding hard.

“I’m struggling to finish off the corner which is definitely a confidence issue as I just need to load the front and find that confidence, but it’s my first day and I don’t want to find that limit, or risk overstepping it just yet,” he added.

“It’s great to be able to see Dani’s [Pedrosa] data and learn where to go fast – that’s a big help.”

Rea said he wasn’t putting himself under any pressure to perform, preferring instead to treat the experience as a learning phase.

“I don’t underestimate how tough a job it is, I just need some time and I don’ t feel pressure to perform, it’s a learning process with the team and people around me,” he said.

“It’s been a great day, one of the best days of my life. I’ve been a Honda rider all my career and now to ride the best Honda machine in the world has been a dream come true.”

Coventry rider Crutchlow claimed his maiden rostrum finish in the class on Sunday behind Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo to become the first British rider to achieve the feat since Jeremy McWilliams at Donington Park in 2000.

Rea will also participate in next week’s MotoGP test at Motorland Aragon in Spain prior to making his potential full race debut at Misano on September 16.



.