Castletown resident Jonathan Rea made history by winning three back-to-back WorldSBK titles in France on Saturday.

Rea took the crown in race one with a stunning display of pure race craft on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR.

The 31-year-old has made this season’s dominance seem effortless, and as he lifts the third consecutive title in a row he has cemented his name in the history books along the way.

Rea said: ’To be honest I can’t sum up my emotions, I feel quite numb. I just feel super proud of my team and Kawasaki. It has been such a team effort, even though I’m the guy who rode it over the line, there have been so many people involved to make it possible.

’Every season is different and special in it’s own individual way. 2015 was a seamless year, I joined a high-level team with a well developed bike. I jumped on a bike that was ready to win and we won. 2016 was more special because we had a completely new ZX.10R, and I’m really proud of my team for the constant development. We had a lot of success last season and although we didn’t score as many points, we were able to understand the bike and it was a lot more difficult, so it was a lot harder.

’This season we showed the strength of team, the manufacturer the strength of Pere, and we went through some hard winter tests and we worked through the problems, and were able to go out an win at Phillip Island. I have to say thank you to Mr Matusda and everyone back in Japan as they work so hard to allow me to live my dream. I cross the line but there are too many names on the list who are involved to say thank you.

’Straight away I am thinking about tomorrow and the end of the season. 2018 as a whole looks uncertain and we need to understand how the bike will work with some new regulations. Winter testing will be so important, and when we turn our attentions to 2018, I am 100 per cent confident in my team and Kawasaki that we will always give our 100 per cent.’

Rea retired from Sunday’s second race after appearing to clip Eugene Laverty’s Aprilia RSV4 RF.