A chaotic Sunday concludes the Australian WorldSBK round at Phillip Island
Phillip IslandTeam HRC and rider Xavi Vierge have now concluded a challenging WorldSBK season-opener at the Phillip Island Circuit in Australia. Vierge crossed the line twelfth in the Superpole race and thirteenth in Race 2.
Team HRC and rider Xavi Vierge have now concluded a challenging WorldSBK season-opener at the Phillip Island Circuit in Australia. Vierge crossed the line twelfth in the Superpole race and thirteenth in Race 2. Iker Lecuona did not participate in the weekend’s racing after injuring his shoulder during testing earlier in the week.
After a brief warm-up session during the morning, Vierge was ready for the Superpole race at 1pm local time (CET+10). The ten-lap sprint ran in warm and sunny conditions (air temp. 25°C, track temp. 39°C) and quickly turned into another battle, with the top ten finishing within five seconds of each other. Lying eleventh through lap one, the Team HRC rider found himself part of a group of four riders fighting to reach the top ten. Although he was able to lower his lap times as the sprint race progressed, the Spaniard lost a little ground in the second half, ultimately crossing the line twelfth.
Like yesterday, the 20-lap Superbike race was meant to be split in two with a mandatory pitstop during which riders had to change tyres. The race got underway one hour later than scheduled after an incident in one of the earlier ASBK races meant that a section of the asphalt had to be cleaned. Xavi was lying thirteenth in the initial stages, but the race was red-flagged at the beginning of lap four when Jonathan Rea suffered a crash at Turn 12. The race was restarted just a short time later but reduced to just eleven laps, with no pitstop requirement. Vierge again started from thirteenth and was lying fourteenth through lap one. Part of a group of four or five riders, the Spaniard was able to maintain a similar pace to the riders up ahead but struggled to make up positions, ultimately crossing the line thirteenth to score three more championship points.
With round 1 of the 2024 WorldSBK championship now complete, round 2 will take place over the weekend of 22-24 March at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, meaning that Lecuona has approximately three weeks in which to recuperate from his shoulder injury. He will continue with his rehabilitation in the coming weeks, as he aims to be fully fit in time for his home round.
We cannot be happy, of course, but this is our reality right now. As a team, we’ve worked well throughout the testing sessions and the race weekend. As I've mentioned before, the feeling on the bike isn't bad; I enjoy riding it. But we're not as fast as the others. We’re still struggling a lot out of the corners and with turning, which makes battling with other riders incredibly difficult because we constantly have to make up ground in braking. My pace isn't too bad when I'm riding alone, but when I need to fight with others I struggle, because in a battle it's hard to maintain the perfect lines. And riding like that puts a lot of stress on the tyres. Every year, the championship level gets higher, and even small details can make a significant difference in terms of performance and results. Having said that, we are aware of the situation and we know we need to keep working and try to find a solution, possibly in the short term.
