Honda leaves Australia with an unexpected haul of points in his pocket. Both Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge they left behind the problems they found during the last test of the preseason, And although their speed did not allow them to fight for the podium, it did earn the Valencian two sixth places that confirm the step forward that HRC seems to have taken with the CBR 1000 RR-R 2023.
Lecuona will face the next round of Mandalika classified in the seventh position overall with 22 points; the Spaniard starred in a weekend from less to more in Phillip Island, and after surprising in FP3 with the best time of the session, then he scored a hard-fought sixth position in Race 1: “I didn’t expect the FP3 thing. It was a really fast first lap, but I was going alone. Very happy because I was going alone, I had rhythm and I knew that I could be there in the race, good in the second group, because the Ducatis are another step away“said Iker on Sunday afternoon.
The Team HRC rider did not hide thisr”very happy” for how things have developed in Australia, especially for having been competitive in all kinds of conditions: “It has been a very positive weekend. I was sixth on Saturday, in the wet, it was the first time I had run in the water, another sixth today… In the end we have achieved the objective of the preseason, I wanted to improve the end of the race. We fought for P4 until the end, I finished sixth, so I thank the team for all the work, also Japan for the improvements they have brought. Now to recharge batteries for next week.”
In the Superpole Race, Lecuona benefited from the falls of the two members of the GRT Yamaha, Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner: “I’ve had a bit of luck, yes, but you have to be there, and we are. If they hadn’t crashed, I already had in mind using that tire to try to get there, because I was still tenth. I wouldn’t change anything, I would have preferred to burn the tire trying to overtake someone in those last two laps than stay there. When they fell, I preferred to be conservative, save the tire and start eighth in Race 2, and in the end we finished sixth.”
After ending the weekend with another sixth position, Lecuona affirms that “beyond this P6, is the fact that we have managed to affirm that winter improvement, the evolution of the Honda and affirm that we are arriving little by little. Let’s see if in the next races we can take another step and be close to the podium”.
On the other side of the box, xavi virgin He was also positive after his weekend at Phillip Island; Ranked 10th overall (14 points), the Catalan started the Australian round with a seventh position on Saturday, in the wet, highlighting the good feelings the bike gave him: “In rainy conditions, I had a lot of confidence at the front and was able to overtake and keep a good pace. Another positive aspect is that we had the same difficulties in the wet as in the dry, the lack of traction was even more evident. That was helpful to us in some way and gave us a lot of data to analyze and use.”
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On Sunday, however, Vierge was unable to replicate his speed on slicks, finishing 12th in the Superpole Race and 11th in Race 2 after a yellow flag overtaking penalty: “I was about to overtake van der Mark when the accident happened in front of me, I couldn’t do anything. I kept pushing and finished 10th, but it’s disappointing when you find out you’re 11th. It is what it is and we will continue to give it our all.” resume Xavi.