Good teamwork and solid results for Team HRC on Sunday at Magny Cours
Circuit de Nevers Magny-CoursThe ninth round of the 2023 Superbike World Championship has now concluded for Team HRC at the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in France, with rider Xavi Vierge placing ninth in today’s races and Iker Lecuona eleventh in Race 2.
After a constructive warm-up, the team was ready for the morning’s ten-lap Superpole race. Lining up on the grid in the positions they earned during yesterday’s qualifying, Lecuona got away from fourteenth and Vierge from sixteenth. Xavi made a lightning start, passing a number of riders to move straight into ninth place. The Spaniard’s lap times improved as the race went on, with the rider able to hold ninth all the way to the line and earn a spot three rows further forward on the Race 2 grid.
Iker was unable to gain ground off the line but did his best to maintain contact with the riders immediately ahead. Although the sprint format of the race means that the gaps between riders are quick to open up and very tough to close, Lecuona worked to gradually increase his pace. Thirteenth by mid-race, Iker pushed to pass a rider in the final stages and cross the line twelfth as a result.
The second 21-lap Superbike race ran in particularly hot conditions (air temp. 35°C, track temp. 51°C) and according to schedule, with the lights going out at 3.15pm local time (CEST). Thanks to his result in the morning’s sprint, Vierge lined up in ninth spot on the grid, Lecuona from fifteenth. While Xavi placed eleventh through the opening stages of the race, his team-mate Iker was lying seventeenth. Lecuona suffered a crash on lap four, but the race was simultaneously red-flagged following an incident for two other riders. Quick to react, Iker remounted his bike and pitted, while his team was immediately ready to take care of his bike. Working at lightning speed, the crew was able to get their rider back on his bike and on track for the quick restart procedure in a matter of minutes.
The race was restarted just a short time later and shortened to seventeen laps. Vierge made a strong start and was in seventh through the first corners, with Lecuona lying fifteenth. Demonstrating better pace than the riders immediately ahead of him, Iker progressed to twelfth place by lap seven, while Xavi remained in a group of riders battling for seventh place for the entirety of the race. He finally had to settled for ninth through the very last corner, but it was in any case a positive result, for two top ten finishes in the day’s races. Iker also achieved a solid eleventh place finish after a challenging start to the weekend.
With nine championship rounds now complete, Vierge currently lies tenth in the general standings with 117 points, Lecuona thirteenth with a tally of 94. Next up for Team HRC is round ten of the Superbike World Championship, set to take place over the weekend of 22-24 September at Motorland Aragón in Spain.
“Ninth is not the position we want to fight for of course, but after the last few rounds and particularly in light of the big crash I suffered on Friday, we can be happy with today’s double top nine. The team worked really hard between yesterday and today and I can say we made a step forward in terms of setup. In the short race we achieved our goal to remain inside the top nine, not a foregone conclusion when starting from row six, and in the long race I gave it my all to try and score the best possible result. It was a pity I lost eighth place through the final corner, but I really tried my best. I think we learned a lot this weekend, also in terms of how we can work better together and I’m really happy about that. I’m now looking forward to Aragon, another home track and one that should be better for our bike than others, so we will head there in an optimistic mood and with positive expectations.”
“Today I started the day with a different mentality - to try and do what we can with what we have right now, just focusing on doing the best possible job and improving as much as possible. There is no sense in getting frustrated or upset. So we might say I’ve changed the chip in my head. Though we struggled in the Superpole race, I kept my cool because I realise that it’s not a matter of what we change in the setup, it’s something we need to solve upstream of this. Xavi uses quite different settings and suffers more or less the same problems. In Race 2 I made a less than perfect start and was lying a little way back when I crashed through the last chicane. “Luckily” it happened just seconds before they red-flagged the race, so I was able to pick up the bike and get back to the pits. I must say a big thank you to the team, as they did a really good job of repairing the bike quickly to give me another chance to race. I just wanted to pay them back with a good result. It was challenging at first because it was the first time I was using the SC1 tyre this weekend, but lap by lap, and especially once everyone’s tyres started to drop, I began closing the gap to Xavi’s group. Eleventh is nothing big, but it is what it is and now it’s time for me to go home and rest up for one week after a busy summer so that I’m all set for the next one.”
