Lecuona fourth in the Superpole race, Vierge sixth in WorldSBK Race 2 at Barcelona
Circuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaTeam HRC has now completed round 4 of the WorldSBK championship in Catalunya with strong results. Iker Lecuona just misses out on the podium in the Superpole race, while Xavi Vierge secures sixth place in the second Superbike race.
Team HRC has now completed round 4 of the WorldSBK championship in Catalunya with strong results. Iker Lecuona just misses out on the podium in the Superpole race, while Xavi Vierge secures sixth place in the second Superbike race.
A fruitful morning warm-up was followed by a short rain shower, but the track had all but dried in time for the start of the 11am Superpole race. Starting from the positions they earned in yesterday’s Superpole, Lecuona lined up in fifth place on the grid, Vierge from twelfth. Eighth and ninth through the first turns, the Team HRC duo found themselves in the middle of a very tightly packed group of riders. Lecuona moved into seventh on lap three, while Vierge slipped back to eleventh. Rain started to fall during the final stages but not enough to impact on the track action. A determined Iker made the most of the opportunity presented to him, recovering four positions in a matter of corners and crossing the line an impressive fourth, just 0.4 of a second from the podium. Team-mate Vierge was also able to pass two riders over the last few kilometres to place ninth.
The final race of the weekend ran according to schedule at 2pm local time. Fourth and ninth on the grid respectively, Lecuona was lying eighth through the opening stages behind Vierge, who quickly moved up into seventh place. Lapping with almost identical pace to each other and to those immediately ahead, the two Spaniards were once again part of a close-knit group. Working hard to both defend their positions and gain ground on those immediately in front, Xavi and Iker held seventh and eighth for the best part of the race. Vierge did well to make gains in the closing stages to cross the line sixth, while Lecuona lost one position to cross the line ninth.
In terms of the championship standings, Vierge now lies eighth with 68 points and Lecuona tenth with 56. Team HRC will be back in action on 11-12 of May for a two-day testing session at the Misano World Circuit in Italy.
We changed something on the front of the bike in warm-up, adjusting things after a little issue we had yesterday, but I still felt I was missing something during the Superpole race. Having said that, thanks to those drops of rain I realised it was time to try and take a chance. I had a good battle with different riders and then Locatelli in the last lap and only just missed out on the podium. So P4 in the end, but I was pleased with that, and also with my grid position for race 2. My feeling with the bike was completely different in race 2 to be honest, and from lap eight onwards I found myself struggling with the tyres and realised I couldn’t do any better. Anyway, it is what it is, and we must now check all the data and understand why this was the case today, because the weekend was actually positive overall. I think the team did a good job, so it was a pity we didn’t better exploit our potential at this track. I’m a little frustrated with how today went, but I think we are on the way and will now focus on next week’s test where we hope to keep improving.
We changed something on the front of the bike in warm-up, adjusting things after a little issue we had yesterday, but I still felt I was missing something during the Superpole race. Having said that, thanks to those drops of rain I realised it was time to try and take a chance. I had a good battle with different riders and then Locatelli in the last lap and only just missed out on the podium. So P4 in the end, but I was pleased with that, and also with my grid position for race 2. My feeling with the bike was completely different in race 2 to be honest, and from lap eight onwards I found myself struggling with the tyres and realised I couldn’t do any better. Anyway, it is what it is, and we must now check all the data and understand why this was the case today, because the weekend was actually positive overall. I think the team did a good job, so it was a pity we didn’t better exploit our potential at this track. I’m a little frustrated with how today went, but I think we are on the way and will now focus on next week’s test where we hope to keep improving.
I think we reacted in the best way possible following what was a demanding start to the weekend, our performance on Sunday better than Saturday. I need to thank the team because they never give up, just like me. We always work hard over the week to understand which way to go. We made good progress and grew a lot during the weekend to finish race two a solid six. So I’m happy about that and also because we made some changes to the bike setup that gave me much more feeling. That was a positive, also because we’ve understood more about the set-up and this could help in the next races. Of course, Catalunya is a track where you really have to consider tyre wear, so when I saw the fight for the podium not far ahead with 10 laps to go, I pushed a bit more than necessary but immediately felt the drop in tyres. So despite my heart telling me to go for it, I kept my cool and maintained the fastest possible pace in the circumstances. On the last lap I took my chances in passing Locatelli and we collected some good points. Our bike has some very strong points - it’s a rocket and that’s good at tracks with a long straight, like Aragon for example, but we cannot profit from this through the corners or on short straights so at the moment our window is a little tight, but we are all focused on improving across every area and we’ll keep giving 100% to get where we want to be.
I think we reacted in the best way possible following what was a demanding start to the weekend, our performance on Sunday better than Saturday. I need to thank the team because they never give up, just like me. We always work hard over the week to understand which way to go. We made good progress and grew a lot during the weekend to finish race two a solid six. So I’m happy about that and also because we made some changes to the bike setup that gave me much more feeling. That was a positive, also because we’ve understood more about the set-up and this could help in the next races. Of course, Catalunya is a track where you really have to consider tyre wear, so when I saw the fight for the podium not far ahead with 10 laps to go, I pushed a bit more than necessary but immediately felt the drop in tyres. So despite my heart telling me to go for it, I kept my cool and maintained the fastest possible pace in the circumstances. On the last lap I took my chances in passing Locatelli and we collected some good points. Our bike has some very strong points - it’s a rocket and that’s good at tracks with a long straight, like Aragon for example, but we cannot profit from this through the corners or on short straights so at the moment our window is a little tight, but we are all focused on improving across every area and we’ll keep giving 100% to get where we want to be.
