Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea will aim to turn things around on Sunday in Race 2 at the #GermanWorldSBK round.

After finishing 11^th fastest overall on Friday he made it through Superpole 1 on Saturday morning at the Lausitzring to qualify in sixth place, but then crashed out of the race at turn 10 on lap 8.

With Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider Chaz Davies taking a dominant win from pole, followed across the line by Rea’s KRT teammate and title rival Tom Sykes the results mean that the championship leader now sees his advantage at the head of the standings reduced to 26 points with seven races remaining this season.

It is also Rea’s second DNF in succession after his Race 2 retirement due to a technical issue at Round 9 at Laguna Seca last time out, which ended a superb run of 17 consecutive podiums in 2016 for the reigning champion.

Explaining the crash, Rea stated, “It’s really frustrating. Going into turn 10 I just found a false neutral and the problem is when you are racing at this level and on the limit there is no room for error. When I found the neutral I had no engine braking and I couldn’t stop for the corner. I still tried to find first and it wasn’t pretty, the gears were grinding and right at the last minute when I was about to just bail out and go into the gravel first gear came in when I was at lean angle and I highsided, so I am really frustrated.”

Remaining upbeat about the overall picture, Rea added, “We can’t think about the championship, it is too early. We will just go out tomorrow and try to do the best job we can. The positive thing is that whatever happens tomorrow I will still lead the championship, so I am not thinking about that. Today I felt really good on the bike compared to yesterday. It wasn’t perfect because I was riding quite hard to stay in the front, but I learned so much and hopefully I can apply that tomorrow and ride at that pace in an easier way.”