Jonathan Rea: “The last few stressful years have been a struggle” – six-time MotoGP World Champion

Rea claimed eighth and seventh places when deputizing for the injured Casey Stoner at the Repsol Honda team in 2012, but says he can have no regrets about not competing in the series as the right offer never came his way.

“I can’t regret something that was never a realistic option. In the early days when I was with Honda, I had the opportunity to ride an Open class bike, which is a B-class ride in the MotoGP championship, but that was never on my radar.

“When you compete at the world championship level, you at least want the competitive tools to fight with the best players in the world.

“I’ve always been very lucky when I get mentioned about going to MotoGP or having talks with MotoGP. My management has always done their best and had the right conversations but I’ve never had a contract in front of me to go there.

“So I can’t really regret it, but I had that opportunity in 2012 with the team and the most famous bike in the history of Grand Prix racing. I feel like I at least pushed the limits, got good points, and competed against one of the greatest players of all time, Valentino Rossi. I’ve had that experience and really enjoyed it.”

Off the track, Rea received recognition for his achievements as he came runner-up in the 2017 Sports Personality of the Year award, receiving nearly 3,000 fewer public votes than the winner, popular athlete Sir Mo Farah.

“He-she [SPOTY] It was unbelievable. When I was in second place it was amazing, at an awards ceremony that people have to vote for.

“It got a big vote that we can be proud of, for Northern Ireland, but also for the motorcycling world to share the spotlight with the mainstream sport, it was great and really proud to put motorcycling on the map.”

Rea expects his final weekend in World Superbike to be special.

“I imagine it will be an emotional weekend. It will be nice to have all my family there.

“I’m retiring but the last round of the series everyone wants to end well because it’s the round you remember throughout the off-season.

“It would be great to stand on the podium again. That would be a huge goal to end the year. If we can achieve that, that would be the icing on the cake.”