Team HRC completes its best weekend of the season so far at Magny-Cours
Circuit de Nevers Magny-CoursRound eight of the 2024 Superbike World Championship has now concluded for Team HRC at the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in France, with riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona placing fifth and seventh in the Superpole race, and seventh and tenth in Race 2.
The Superpole race ran in dry conditions at 11am CET. Vierge made a very strong start and was almost immediately up into fourth. Holding this position for the first half of the race, the Spaniard was pushed off track on lap seven, which caused him to slip back to sixth. A gritty performance by Xavi saw him regain a position in the final stages to secure final fifth position in today’s sprint. Lecuona got off to a great start, quickly making up several positions on the opening lap to move into tenth. Consistently lapping faster than his rivals in the early stages, Iker gained significant ground and progressed to seventh by mid-race. He held this position to the finish, making a remarkable recovery and gaining twelve positions over the course of this short 10-lap sprint.
Thanks to their Superpole race results, Vierge and Lecuona started from fifth and seventh on the grid for the second 21-lap Superbike race, which ran in dry conditions at 3.30pm. Just like this morning, Xavi was lying in fourth place through the very first corners and moved into the top three just moments later. Iker was ninth in the early stages, his strong pace allowing him to close in on, and pass, those immediately ahead to take seventh by lap five, soon tucking in behind team-mate Vierge who had in the meantime slipped to sixth. Xavi lost his position to Gardner and Redding in a last-lap battle, which meant he crossed the line eighth, with Iker finishing just a tenth of a second behind in ninth. However, after the race, Lecuona was handed a three-second penalty for cutting the course, which saw him dropped to tenth place. Vierge was promoted to seventh, as Redding also received a one-position penalty.
Vierge lies fourteenth in the general standings with 69 points, Lecuona sixteenth with a tally of 56. Team HRC will test on 11-12 September at Motorland Aragón in Spain, before turning its attention to the ninth Superbike World Championship round, set to take place over the weekend of 20-22 September at Cremona Circuit in Italy.
Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to everyone on the team because, as always, they have worked incredibly hard both at home and at the track. In the last few races, our potential has been greater than what we've shown—especially on my side, as I was struggling with arm pump. Since the surgery, I’ve felt better, and already at Portimão we had a solid weekend, followed by an important test in Estoril where we felt we made another small step forward. Here, at a track that is normally one of the hardest for us, we saw the benefits of all this hard work. It’s true that this weekend was affected by changing conditions, but we were strong in wet, damp, and dry conditions, so we can be happy with that. We’re still not ready to fight for the win, but compared to the start of the season, we’ve made a good step. Yesterday, in Race 1, we made the perfect tyre choice, and if the rain hadn’t come, I think we had a good chance to fight near the podium or even for it. Today, in Race 2, we made a great start, lying in fourth and third place for a few laps until defending that position became impossible. I tried to stick with the group, but I completely wore out the rear tyre, especially on the right side, which was completely gone in the last few laps. I held onto the top six until the last lap when I lost the battle and closed eighth. All in all, a very good weekend. We’ll take all the positives and now look forward to the upcoming two-day test at Aragón, where we’ll see if we can make another step forward.
Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to everyone on the team because, as always, they have worked incredibly hard both at home and at the track. In the last few races, our potential has been greater than what we've shown—especially on my side, as I was struggling with arm pump. Since the surgery, I’ve felt better, and already at Portimão we had a solid weekend, followed by an important test in Estoril where we felt we made another small step forward. Here, at a track that is normally one of the hardest for us, we saw the benefits of all this hard work. It’s true that this weekend was affected by changing conditions, but we were strong in wet, damp, and dry conditions, so we can be happy with that. We’re still not ready to fight for the win, but compared to the start of the season, we’ve made a good step. Yesterday, in Race 1, we made the perfect tyre choice, and if the rain hadn’t come, I think we had a good chance to fight near the podium or even for it. Today, in Race 2, we made a great start, lying in fourth and third place for a few laps until defending that position became impossible. I tried to stick with the group, but I completely wore out the rear tyre, especially on the right side, which was completely gone in the last few laps. I held onto the top six until the last lap when I lost the battle and closed eighth. All in all, a very good weekend. We’ll take all the positives and now look forward to the upcoming two-day test at Aragón, where we’ll see if we can make another step forward.
Overall, I’m really happy because this morning in the sprint, I started basically last and still managed to finish P7. I even had a chance to fight for the top five, if not for a clash with Van der Mark along the way. Anyway, the goal of improving my grid position for the main race was achieved, and Xavi was right there too, so having two Hondas in the top seven was really cool. This afternoon, I was expecting a bit more, but I struggled a lot with my right arm—I’ve been dealing with this issue all weekend, to be honest, and today it was especially difficult to manage. It meant I made a few mistakes, lost some positions on track, and then I received a penalty that moved me back to tenth after the flag. Not that it changed much, though. The positive is that both Hondas were fighting close to the front, which shows we’ve taken a step forward. Let’s see if we can keep this momentum and hopefully build on it. But, yes, we’re happy today.
Overall, I’m really happy because this morning in the sprint, I started basically last and still managed to finish P7. I even had a chance to fight for the top five, if not for a clash with Van der Mark along the way. Anyway, the goal of improving my grid position for the main race was achieved, and Xavi was right there too, so having two Hondas in the top seven was really cool. This afternoon, I was expecting a bit more, but I struggled a lot with my right arm—I’ve been dealing with this issue all weekend, to be honest, and today it was especially difficult to manage. It meant I made a few mistakes, lost some positions on track, and then I received a penalty that moved me back to tenth after the flag. Not that it changed much, though. The positive is that both Hondas were fighting close to the front, which shows we’ve taken a step forward. Let’s see if we can keep this momentum and hopefully build on it. But, yes, we’re happy today.
