Source: Supplied.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea has re-signed with the factory team to stay on board the ZX-10R for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Rea had been rumoured as a potential MotoGP candidate amidst one of the silliest seasons of all, but has now firmed his intentions to remain with Kawasaki and become one of WorldSBK’s all-time best.

“I am so happy to extend this partnership with the Kawasaki Racing Team and continue the great relationship I have with all the Kawasaki engineers and fans,” Rea commented. “It is clear that our objectives and way of working are very well matched, so it makes perfect sense to extend this for two more seasons.

“With all the incredible memories we have made so far and are now creating, I am 100 percent confident that we will enjoy working together and develop the Ninja ZX-10R into the future. I would like to thank Kawasaki and all the KRT staff for their full support and belief in my potential. With this in mind I am now even more focused than ever to win the WorldSBK championship in 2016 to make it back-to-back wins.”

Entering Sepang’s sixth round of the season this weekend in Malaysia, Rea currently leads the WorldSBK championship standings by 35 points. He’s been in WorldSBK since 2009, spending six of those years with Honda before transferring to KRT and winning the title last year.