A new WorldSBK season has begun for Team HRC in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where the team’s new riders have completed an initial test (December 15-17) aboard the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE.

Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge benefitted from excellent weather conditions during this first outing with their new bike and team, an experience that proved positive. The pair were able to make the most of the track time available to them and, despite the sessions coming to a premature end for Iker after he suffered a fall with minor consequences, this doesn’t alter the fact that both he and his team-mate were able to complete some solid work with their new squad.

Team HRC will now take a short break over the holiday season before returning to the track in January with renewed energy and confidence.

Leon Camier

Team Manager, Team HRC

“We’ve essentially made a very good start and both Iker and Xavi have adapted very quickly to the bike and to the team - you could sense that they’re highly motivated. The lap times were good right away, but this was not our goal and so we were not pushing for those. It was all about trying to understand the bike, the tyres and the changes we made, which have most related to electronics at this initial stage. Their comments were in line with what we already knew about the bike, and that’s impressive at what is their first test. We used our current bike so that they could understand the base set-up and what we have now, and then they’ll be able to evaluate the updates we’ll introduce next year. Conditions have been very good throughout the whole test, so even though Iker missed the final day, he was able to take advantage of a lot of useful track time and has already completed a lot of work. Of course, we need more time on track with both riders, so that they gradually gain experience. It’s an all-round learning process, but so far everything has been going very well”.