He also owns the highest number of SBK race wins (107), fastest laps, podiums and total points (over 5,000 gained until the end of August 2021).

He was not originally keen to switch to circuit racing as he considered it to be boring, but he was persuaded to by friends Michael and Eugene Laverty, contesting the 2003 British 125cc Championship.

He showed his potential by snatching a pole position from the established names, and finished 16th in the series despite missing two races, at Snetterton after a heavy testing crash, and at Oulton Park after the death of a junior teammate in the previous event.

At Oulton Park he finished 3rd in race two, before being demoted to fourth as he was deemed to have gained a place from Shane Byrne on the last lap illegally, although he claimed that he crossed the infield grass as he was squeezed out of road.

A double victory at Knockhill followed,[5] taking him to within nine points of Kiyonari at the top of the standings – retaining this position after Oulton Park in which each HM Plant Honda rider won once and crashed once.

Plans for him to contest the British MotoGP round on a Team Roberts bike were scrapped in favour of extra Suzuka preparation.

[14] Another third place followed in the very next round at Miller Motorsport Park,[15] before his first WSBK win came at Misano, after a frantic battle with the Ducati duo of Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio.

He remained with Ten Kate for 2010, and scored a double victory at the team's home round at Assen,[18] however this was followed by two crashes at Monza.

[21] For the 2011 season, Rea stayed with the Ten Kate Racing family as its Honda-supported World Superbike team received backing from global lubricants manufacturer, Castrol, reviving the famous Castrol Honda name that saw World Superbike championship victories with John Kocinski in 1997 and Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.

After spending his entire career riding Honda machinery, Rea joined Kawasaki Racing Team as Tom Sykes' new teammate for the 2015 season.

He finished 8th in the San Marino race, held at Misano in Italy, and 7th at Motorland Aragon in Spain, before returning to World Superbike duties.

Rea married Tatiana Weston, an Australian known as 'Tarsh' (whom he met when she worked promoting UK-based superbike team Honda Racing) at a 2012 ceremony in the Lake District.

Adrien Morillas, Rob Phillis, Aaron Slight, Scott Russell, Anthony Gobert, Akira Yanagawa, Hitoyasu Izutsu, Chris Walker Tom Sykes, Loris Baz, Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes