Jonathan Rea heads to Imola knowing he won both races on a Honda motorcycle last year. Having dropped only ten points riding a Kawasaki so far in 2015, the Northern Irish rider now returns to the Italian venue with much optimism.

“I am looking forward to Imola because it is a track I really enjoy; a really technical track,” Rea says. “It requires a lot of thought to be put into the lap and there are many areas where you can make up time by using quite different techniques, especially in the Piratella and Acque Minerali sections. I enjoy going to Italy in general and it is good to go somewhere where I went really well last year and in the past.

“It is the first time in Italy this year and I am just excited to go there. I have not been working with my crew chief, Pere Riba, for that long but we have a really good understanding of each other. We will be working through a few plans this weekend to make sure are strong for the next few races. It is going to be another tough weekend because Imola always provides some good racing.”

Team-mate and 2013 World Champion Tom Sykes has endured a tougher start to the campaign and is yet to claim a race victory, although the Englishman is sure he will soon once again become a regular race winner.

“I do not look at Imola any differently from any other circuit just because we have had some success there in the past, but for whatever reason we have had some good results there, even on the previous model of Ninja ZX-10R,” Sykes begins.

“I have two main limitations on the bike right now, but when we cross those bridges I feel confident that I will be back to myself - and back to where we have been in the past three years, which is challenging and at the sharp end of the timing sheets. I am going to Imola like always, expecting to be fighting. I just want a package that lets me challenge the other guys at the end of the race. We have not had that yet but it is something we have had in the past and I do believe we are knocking on the door now, gradually getting that balance right for me now.

“I am hoping that this weekend, in front of a really fantastic and enthusiastic Italian crowd, we can hit the nail on the head. That is what I am gunning for.”

Between them, Sykes and Rea have triumphed in the last four Imola races, having each done the double in the most recent pair of WorldSBK events at the venue. Furthermore, one more podium for a Kawasaki motorcycle would mark the 200th World Superbike race in which at least one Kawasaki had finished on the rostrum.