Another top ten for Vierge in race 2 at Assen
TT Circuit AssenThe third Superbike World Championship at the Assen TT Circuit has drawn to a close today, with Team HRC scoring a twelfth- and tenth-place finish in the day’s races with rider Xavi Vierge.
The third Superbike World Championship at the Assen TT Circuit has drawn to a close today, with Team HRC scoring a twelfth- and tenth-place finish in the day’s races with rider Xavi Vierge.
Iker Lecuona sustained a knee injury after crashing during Saturday’s third practice and was unable to compete in Race 1. Having been reassessed by doctors this morning, the Spaniard was again deemed unfit to race.
The brief morning warm-up ran in very cold, damp conditions and saw Vierge complete four laps, with many riders electing not to ride at all. Xavi and his technicians then prepared for the Superpole race, which got underway at 11am local time (CET), in cold but sunny conditions. Twelfth on the grid for this ten-lap sprint, Xavi placed eleventh through the first corners. Finding it tough to match the pace of the riders around him in the initial stages, Vierge slipped back to sixteenth but was quick to respond, battling hard to work his way back up to twelfth by lap eighth, a position he held to the line.
The second and final Superbike race was another dry one, with Vierge starting from thirteenth. Struggling with a lack of grip, he didn’t make a strong start and found himself in seventeenth place after one lap. Maintaining his focus, Xavi gradually climbed back up to twelfth place. Meanwhile, drops of rain began to fall midway through the race, making conditions increasingly challenging. In the last five laps, the Spaniard fought against his closest rivals for tenth place. He ultimately managed to secure the position by passing Garrett Gerloff on the last lap, earning valuable championship points.
Three rounds into the 2024 championship and Vierge lies fourteenth in the general standings with 25 points. An unlucky Lecuona has just three points on the board and positions twenty-first.
What can I say? Of course, we are aiming for more than we achieved today, but we're giving it our all so we need to focus on the positives, in that we managed to finish both long races in the top ten. Having said that, I struggled a lot today due to a lack of rear grip. This meant I was passed by many riders in the first few laps and couldn’t do much about it. Then, while other riders' tyres started to drop, mine remained more consistent. This allowed me to make a comeback and secure a top-ten finish. I still feel disappointed though, as we need to identify how to find what's missing. If we don’t address this issue, we can't compete effectively. Despite the challenges, I want to express my gratitude to my team. They stand by me every day, never giving up and continuously exploring new ways for improvement. Looking ahead, we now have a break with two planned tests, which will be crucial in order to help us make a real progress.
It's been a tough year so far, getting injured in Australia, then struggling in Barcelona, and now here. Managing the situation both mentally and physically is not easy. It's challenging to maintain performance when every time I start training, something comes up that forces me to stop. I also feel sorry for the team because on weekends like this, which are a bit unpredictable, I like to take some gambles and try to capitalize on the conditions. I believe we had an opportunity to perform well here. Before the crash, it was actually the first time this year that I was enjoying riding the bike in wet conditions. So, it was really unfortunate when I hit my knee on the gravel. But these things happen sometimes, and unfortunately, it happened to me. Now, it's time to head back home, clear my mind, and focus on recovering as quickly as possible. The priority is to properly assess my knee to determine if there's any ligament damage. That's also why I couldn't ride today; we still haven't got a clear picture of the situation with my knee, and I can't fully flex it into the right position on the bike. The doctors deemed me unfit and now we’ll check it thoroughly back in Spain.
