It was byꦉ far the longest that Rea - a six-time world champion with a record 118 wins to his naꦗme heading into the event - has ever waited to taste victory during a WorldSBK season.

The breakthrough came when Rea and Kawasaki grabbe🌳d the opportunity posed by pre-race rain.

Although wet tyre riders filled the top four places in the early stages Rea, in fifth, was in a class of his𒉰 own compared to the others on intermediates.

When the drying track then forced the wet💝 tyre riders to♉ pit, Rea was left 12 seconds clear of the field.

Although Toprakౠ Razgatlioglu, also on intermediates but just 13th in the🍒 early stages, put on a determined late charge, Rea was still four seconds clear of the Yamaha star at the chequered flag.

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"I knew sat on the🐻 grid th🃏at it was a good opportunity for us to try to push for a race win,” Rea, absent from the top step of the podium for 252 days, told WorldSBK.com.

“I made a good sta🧔rt and was there with the guys on wet tyres and from then on I knew intermediates were💃 the right choice.

“The gap in the middle of the race was quite big to Toprak in the others, but after the bike started m💯oving a lot because the set-up was quite soft to take benefit in the be🌼ginning.

“So it was about managing the bike💎 and tyres u♉sing my pit board.

"It’s a nice present to my team and crew for all the hard work...This win will give us a nice fee🍎ling tonight but we’re still not in a position to fight for wins in normal condition🌜s.

"We need to be realistic. But we’ll take this win, be proud of it and keep working to try to🌊 be at the front week in, week out.”

Rea,ꩲ who qualified sixth in Superpole, has now taken third in the world championship from Andrea Locatelli.