Dixon and Chantra finish in the points in Estoril Race 1 following a strong qualifying for Jake
Circuito EstorilA seventh-place Superpole result for Dixon is followed by points for both Honda HRC riders in Saturday’s Race 1
Honda HRC placed twelfth with Jake Dixon and fourteenth with Somkiat Chantra in the first race of this eleventh WorldSBK round, taking place at Estoril Circuit in Portugal.
A final practice session early in the day allowed Dixon and Chantra to continue working on the setup of their CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP machines. Both riders improved on their Friday lap times by more than four tenths, with Dixon placing tenth with a 1’35.520 and Chantra sixteenth with a 1’35.762.
The Superpole qualifying session ran later in the morning in warm, dry conditions. Both riders worked to improve their lap times across the session, with Dixon ultimately putting in an impressive 1’34.788 to secure seventh place and a spot on the third row of the grid. This marked a significant improvement on his previous best time of the weekend. Teammate Chantra closed with a fastest time of 1’35.489, qualifying seventeenth for a sixth-row race start.
Race 1 got underway at 3.30pm local time in similarly warm conditions. Keen to exploit his strong qualifying position, Dixon unfortunately lost several places off the line, dropping to fourteenth by the end of the opening lap. Despite struggling to find the pace he had hoped for, Dixon worked to recover positions over the course of the 21 laps, eventually crossing the line in twelfth place to secure another points finish.
Starting from row six, Chantra also faced a challenging opening lap but immediately put his head down and set about recovering lost ground. The Thai rookie progressively moved forward through the field, despite running wide at turn one after braking too late while attempting an overtake. Continuing to push hard through the final stages, Chantra reached the points zone and ultimately crossed the line in fourteenth place, adding two championship points to his tally.
Honda HRC will round out this penultimate round of the 2026 season on Sunday, when it will take part in the Superpole Race and WorldSBK Race 2.
“Qualifying was good, and I felt I got the maximum out of the package we had today. But we’ve been struggling all weekend, so I knew the race was going to be difficult. The start didn’t help, as I immediately lost several positions, but honestly, even with a better start, I think we would still have struggled because we just didn’t have the pace we needed. We showed already that we can respond to challenging situations, so we’ll put our heads together tonight and work hard to find some solutions and have a better bike for tomorrow.”
“Qualifying was good, and I felt I got the maximum out of the package we had today. But we’ve been struggling all weekend, so I knew the race was going to be difficult. The start didn’t help, as I immediately lost several positions, but honestly, even with a better start, I think we would still have struggled because we just didn’t have the pace we needed. We showed already that we can respond to challenging situations, so we’ll put our heads together tonight and work hard to find some solutions and have a better bike for tomorrow.”
“Not a bad race today. I started seventeenth and finished fourteenth, although my first lap was not very good and I lost several positions. I was able to recover and had some good battles during the race. At one point, I tried to overtake at turn one but braked a little too late, and with the rear sliding I couldn't stop the bike in time, so I ran wide. Overall, I think we are moving in the right direction, although we still need to improve in several areas, including the bike setup and electronics, as well as my riding. We can see that we are making progress and scoring more points towards the end of the season, which is encouraging. We need to keep working hard and see what we can achieve tomorrow.”
“Not a bad race today. I started seventeenth and finished fourteenth, although my first lap was not very good and I lost several positions. I was able to recover and had some good battles during the race. At one point, I tried to overtake at turn one but braked a little too late, and with the rear sliding I couldn't stop the bike in time, so I ran wide. Overall, I think we are moving in the right direction, although we still need to improve in several areas, including the bike setup and electronics, as well as my riding. We can see that we are making progress and scoring more points towards the end of the season, which is encouraging. We need to keep working hard and see what we can achieve tomorrow.”
