Between them Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes have won all of the most recent six FIM Superbike World Championship races at the stunning Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, and with such a proven record at the undulating Italian circuit each official KRT rider is ready to add to their 2016 season win tallies on the all-new Ninja ZX-10R. The Kawasaki pairing look strong, as after four rounds and eight races of the 2016 WorldSBK championship, Rea and Sykes have taken six of the possible eight race wins so far.

Leading the Championship with a score of 181 points from a possible 200, Rea has finished every race on the podium and counts five race wins to his credit since the start of the year. He has won five times at Imola in all and now has 34 career race wins to his credit, and of his five wins at the Italian track, Rea has won the four most recent at Imola.

Teammate Sykes is no stranger to winning races on the Ninja ZX-10R. He took both Imola race victories in his championship-winning season for Kawasaki, and with five podiums this season including a race victory in Thailand, he is third in the overall rankings, with 122 points.

“I have always been really lucky to have a great reception from the Italian fans,” said Rea. “I enjoy riding there. The culture, the food, the parkland track itself; everything seems nice and the layout is kind of like the tracks I grew up on in the British Superbike Championship. In the past I have had some good results at Imola and some race wins. After the amazing weekend we had in Assen extending our championship lead was great. But it is back to business this week and trying to keep that target in mind during every weekend now - trying to improve our championship position. As I said recently, it is not just Imola but these next three races are all-important because the races are week-on/week-off. It is important to remain healthy throughout these races and score points. The key to the weekend is set-up on Friday. We have seen how critical it has been in Aragon and also Assen with the weather change.”

With the Friday sessions now determining entry to Superpole 2, the base setup found on Day 1 added to the weather can be a decisive factor.

“At the previous Round in Assen we did not get what we deserved but we had good speed in both the wet and the dry,” added Sykes. “This motivates me so I am excited and looking forward to Imola now. It is a track where we have been strong in the past. The circuit itself is definitely an old school layout. It is exciting, technical and you have to be pin-point accurate round there to have a good race. Our season has been a little bit up and down but generally it has been up. Looking at the bigger picture, we have had great potential and just had a couple races, like Australia or Assen, where we didn’t get what we deserved. We are heading in a good way and always improving.”

To see Sykes take on his teammate, the home-fuelled passion of the Aruba.it Ducati team and the rest of the WorldSBK grid challengers and frontrunners, tune in for Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday, at 13:00 local time (GMT +2).