´óÏó´«Ã½

Five-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea says he wants to win as many races as possible to push himself to the top of the standings as the series resumes at Jerez this weekend.

The Northern Irishman finds himself 19 points adrift of championship leader Alex Lowes after the opening round at Phillip Island five months ago.

Eight further rounds are scheduled during the remainder of the season.

"You can't play the long game now when it comes to points," argued Rea.

"With the coronavirus still evolving and coming into the autumn, you never know how things will pan out," added the 33-year-old.

"Some of the proposed schedule may come under threat so for me it's basically about trying to win as many races as I can from the off.

"I'm not sure of the rules and regulations around when they call a championship a championship in terms of how many races need to be run so race wins are all-important."

Rea, who has taken a record 89 World Superbike race wins and 170 podiums, crashed out of the opening race of the season in Australia, won by Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu, before winning the Superpole event and coming runner-up to team-mate Lowes in the second feature race.

The Kawasaki rider lies fourth in the standings, behind Lowes, Ducati rider Scott Redding and Razgatlioglu, and has since extended his association with the Japanese manufacturer by signing a new multi-year contract.

Test sessions at Misano in Italy and Montmelo in Barcelona have yielded positive outcomes in recent weeks and Rea hopes to add to the race win double he achieved at Jerez in 2017.

"It's been great to get back on my bike and feel the buzz of that again," said Rea ahead of this weekend's action at the Andalucian circuit.

"I believe the work we put in and the conclusions we arrived at during testing will help this weekend in the hot conditions when the grip level is not at the optimum.

"We were able to achieve what we wanted which was to be competitive in both our single lap and long run pace.

"It will be strange not to have the Superbike atmosphere with fans in the grandstands and a packed paddock but I'm looking forward to what's in store.

"I feel like I'm riding well and I was comfortable on the bike in those two tests so my aim is to keep making progress and minimise any mistakes so I can be there or thereabouts at the end.

"The series is getting more and more competitive but my target is of course to win the title. Jerez is a great circuit and one I enjoy so I think I am capable of winning there.

"Four of the next five rounds are scheduled for Spain and the other in Portugal so there will not be much diversity in terms of being able to ride in cooler conditions."