Jonathan Rea gave an excellent account of himself in qualifꦜying today as the Northern Irishman prepare༺s for his MotoGP race debut in the San Marino Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old was denied crucial dry track time on the works Repsol Honda RC213V yesterday, when poor weather conditions hampered his progres🌳s.

However, the Ten Kate Honda World Superbike rider - standing in for the injured Casꦚey Stoner - made slick progress in qualifying at Misano and will start from ninth place on the thi💯rd row of the grid tomorrow alongside Andrea Dovizioso and Ben Spies.

Rea admitted he was feeling "stressed" this morning after Friday's free practice sessions were thwarted, but he will sleep easier tonight aft꧂er a solid performance at the Italian circuit.

"I woke up this morning pretty stresse🗹d after yesterday's missed sessions and then FP3 was also pretty useless, so I've got to be happy with a third row start and my goal was top 10," said Rea, whose best lap was 1.5s adrift of team-mate and pole man Dani Pedrosa.

"I'm learning something on every 𝕴single run and the team did a great job on tr🍌anslating my feedback to give me good settings on the bike.

"I'm tak⛄ing things step-by-step and the limit is still quite a way off, but I don't real🔥ly want to find that limit just yet, I'm taking my time," he added.

"I wꦯant to thank Repsol Honda for this opportunity, I'm really enjoying the experience and don't want it to end!"

Rea isn't expecting miracles on his MotoGP debut and concedes he 🌳is feeling nervous as he stee𒈔ls himself for the biggest moment in his career to date.

"I know tomorrow's race is going to be tough, I just want go out, give my best and h🐻ave a clean race," said Rea.

"I'm pretty nervous but whe🐓n the lights go out I'll be in race m🎃ode and we'll see what happens."