The factory Kawasaki star clinched a superb double last year and in his current form will be confident of his prospects of returning to the top step at the iconic track on the Ninja ZX-10R. Rea is the runaway leader of the series after making a fairytale start to his Kawasaki career, winning six of the first eight races this season and finishing as the runner-up twice to open an advantage of 50 points over Aprilia’s Leon Haslam. “I am looking forward to Imola because it is a track I really enjoy; a really technical track,” said Rea. “It requires a lot of thought to be put into the lap and there are many areas where you can make up time by using quite different techniques, especially in the Piratella and Acque Minerali sections. “I enjoy going to Italy in general and it is good to go somewhere where I went really well last year and in the past. It is going to be another tough weekend,” he added. “I have not been working with my crew chief Pere Riba for that long but we have a really good understanding of each other. “We will be working through a few plans this weekend to make sure are strong for the next few races.”