Jonathan Rea hopes standing in for Casey Stoner leads to MotoGP future

The Superbike World Championship race-winner is making his MotoGP debut at Misano this weekend and is set to remain with Honda until Stoner is fit to return following his recent ankle surgery.

Asked if he was waiting to see how he performed before deciding whether to aim for a longer-term MotoGP move, Rea said he already knew he wanted a future in the prototype class.

"For sure I want the possibility to come to MotoGP because I think it's every young guy's dream to be in this championship," he said. "My hero was Kevin Schwantz so to race in the GP class is an honour.

"My future's not in my hands right now. I have to wait and see.

"I'll take things race by race, try to do a good job here, and see what happens."

Rea has tested the Honda at Brno and Aragon, although he said the first test was of little use as he had hurried from his Superbike commitments in Russia.

"Brno wasn't really like a test - I was like a zombie. I'd had one and a half hours' sleep. There was so much to learn in half a day," he said.

"I got more comfortable with the machine at Aragon. I picked up quite a lot there and really enjoyed starting to feel the GP machine.

"It's a completely different machine and it takes time, but I'm really enjoying this learning experience.

"The gap between me and the bike now is quite a lot, but it's very motivating to get closer and closer."