Honda HRC completes its best weekend of the season so far with Dixon sixth and Chantra in the points
Cremona CircuitSixth for Honda HRC rider Dixon and points for Chantra as the factory team concludes its best weekend of the season so far
The tenth Superbike World Championship round at Italy’s Cremona Circuit draws to a close, with Sunday’s races bringing further growth and learning for the Honda HRC team, as well as additional championship points and a best ever WorldSBK finish for Jake Dixon, P6 in Race 2.
The day began with a short warm-up, in which factory riders Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra carried out a few final checks with their technicians ahead of the day’s two races. The ten-lap Superpole race was next up, with the factory duo starting from the sixth row of the grid.
Having set himself the clear target of reaching the top nine in order to improve his starting position for Race 2, Dixon made immediate progress through the field. Within the space of just two laps, Jake had already worked his way up to eleventh place, immediately ahead of teammate Somkiat. With the top ten well within his sights, Jake continued to push, ultimately crossing the line ninth and doing exactly what was needed to secure a third-row start for Race 2. Keeping pace with his teammate until the final stages, Chantra slipped back a few places right at the end to finish thirteenth.
Their earlier performance in the sprint race meant that Dixon and Chantra positioned ninth and seventeenth respectively on the grid for the weekend’s final race, another 23-lapper that ran in the dry at 15.30 CET. Starting ninth, Dixon was tenth at the end of the opening lap but soon settled into a strong rhythm. Moving into ninth and then passing Gerloff for eighth, Jake was able to maintain a competitive pace and stay in touch with the group immediately ahead. Climbing to seventh by lap seven and eager to improve on his previous SBK best, Jake made the most of every opportunity today. His impressive pace and consistency allowed him to build a three-second lead over the rider immediately behind, which made it easier to manage the final phase of the race and confirm sixth place across the line. P6 represents a career best result for Dixon in WorldSBK.
Chantra faced a more challenging start to Race 2, dropping back during the opening stages as he struggled to push as he wanted. As the laps went by, however, the Thai rider became increasingly comfortable and was able to improve his pace and begin recovering positions. Finding slightly stronger pace than some of his closest rivals, he continued to make progress to secure P13, and three further championship points.
The riders’ combined results in Race 2 mark the Honda HRC team’s best combined performance so far this season. Just two rounds of the 2026 season remain, as the Honda HRC team prepares to race at Portugal’s Estoril Circuit on 9-11 October, followed immediately by the season finale at Jerez Circuit in Spain on 16-18 October.
“A really good weekend. Especially after the crash on Friday and then the crash in qualifying, to come back and finish ninth, ninth and sixth, I couldn’t have asked for much more. In Race 2, I was sticking with the riders ahead but I’d already had a few warnings from the front and then I started to run out of rear grip. I had pushed as hard as I could from the beginning and used quite a lot of the tyre, so from there I just focused on bringing it home. Massive credit to the team for all their hard work, particularly considering the struggles we’ve had this year and my injury too. This may be a good track for the bike, but we need to take the positives when we have them and we can now head to Estoril with a bit more confidence. Hopefully we can do a little more work between the races so that we can keep pushing, stay in this kind of position and maybe fight a little more with riders like Alex. Anyway, as I said, I think we got all we could from the bike today, so I’m really, really happy.”
“A really good weekend. Especially after the crash on Friday and then the crash in qualifying, to come back and finish ninth, ninth and sixth, I couldn’t have asked for much more. In Race 2, I was sticking with the riders ahead but I’d already had a few warnings from the front and then I started to run out of rear grip. I had pushed as hard as I could from the beginning and used quite a lot of the tyre, so from there I just focused on bringing it home. Massive credit to the team for all their hard work, particularly considering the struggles we’ve had this year and my injury too. This may be a good track for the bike, but we need to take the positives when we have them and we can now head to Estoril with a bit more confidence. Hopefully we can do a little more work between the races so that we can keep pushing, stay in this kind of position and maybe fight a little more with riders like Alex. Anyway, as I said, I think we got all we could from the bike today, so I’m really, really happy.”
“I’m very happy for Jake and the entire team because he finally got a very good result with sixth place, and this is also good for me and for the whole team. We are all working together to improve the bike and hopefully this can help us have a good future and fight further towards the front. As for my race today, the bike setup was actually good. I just struggled to push at the beginning and I’m not really sure why. When I tried to push, I found it quite difficult to stop the bike. Later in the race, I was able to push more and tried to recover a few positions. In the end, it was not so bad, and I’m satisfied with the work we’ve done.”
“I’m very happy for Jake and the entire team because he finally got a very good result with sixth place, and this is also good for me and for the whole team. We are all working together to improve the bike and hopefully this can help us have a good future and fight further towards the front. As for my race today, the bike setup was actually good. I just struggled to push at the beginning and I’m not really sure why. When I tried to push, I found it quite difficult to stop the bike. Later in the race, I was able to push more and tried to recover a few positions. In the end, it was not so bad, and I’m satisfied with the work we’ve done.”
