Jon♎athan Rea was forced to settle for P14 in Race 1 at the Aragon World Superbike Championship rou🍷nd.

The Yamaha rider was passed fit earlier in🌜 t🐭he weekend after thumb surgery.

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

Rea♔ finished 13th in the Superpole race then edged briefl🥃y into the top 10 until front grip cost him.

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

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

“In the last third of the race, I really struggled with front tyre tracti🔥on entering the corner and turning, so that comp🌳romised everything.

“I had a little bit of rear tyre drop, but most of the i൩ssues 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 12ౠ on Lap 14 and I lost track position to Lok♔a, 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 som༒e information for tomorrow.”

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

Locatelli said: “I can take some positives from toꦺday but in the end the resu⭕lt is P10.

“Unfortunately, I made a mistake after I started very well, but this c🌺an 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 wide𒐪 on Turn 8 where the track is a bit d🔯irty.

“When I made the change of directi🐠on 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 imprཧove a little bit we will be closer.

“We have two more possibilities for tomorrow to try again. I want t𓃲o believe until the end be🧔cause 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.”