Delighted to both see and hear the return of Yamaha as Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes shared the Jerez track with Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea for two days this week, the 2015 WorldSBK Champion believes the Yamaha riders could feature at the forefront of World Superbike races next year.

“I try not to pay too much attention to them because we have such a big job to do,” Rea said at this week’s Jerez test. “It’s nice to hear the sound of their bike, because we’ve been missing that in WorldSBK for quite a few years now, so it is great for the championship that they have come back.

“They have two very strong riders in Alex and Sylvain: one really young rider with lots of potential and the other mature and ex World Champion. They’re not silly guys. It’s going be cool because it seems like another manufacturer is going to be in the mix at the front. It’s not just great for them, but it’s great for us.

“Competition is what makes everyone move forward. Hopefully it is good for the Superbike fans, to have two more guys up front.”

Discussing his own bike, which is an all-new Kawasaki ZX-10R for 2016, the Northern Irishman declared himself content:

“The 2016 bike is a lot different to what we expected. There is a lot of work to do to be comfortable. It is just about working and trying to make the same effort on every single lap to be able to give clear and positive comments to the engineers. Some things are working really well and some things not so much, but that is part of the job. I have already found a much better feeling with the ’16 bike, which is encouraging. We are yet to do a complete long run, but I am really satisfied with our work on both new and used tyres. We have been able to be really constant.”

This week’s two-day test at Jerez was Rea’s first with the new machine; he missed the first at MotorLand Aragon as wife Tatia gave birth to the couple's second son, Tyler.