Vierge and Lecuona achieve solid results on Sunday at Portimão
Autódromo Internacional do AlgarveTeam HRC riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona have completed round seven of the Superbike World Championship at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve with a strong display of grit and resilience, achieving a seventh and fourteenth place finish in today’s Superpole race, before placing ninth and thirteenth respectively in Race 2.
The day’s ten-lap Superpole race did not get underway until 2.45pm (CET-1), as dictated by this weekend’s modified schedule that has seen all sessions run later in the afternoon than usual. Lining up on row five, Xavi wasted no time when the lights went out, passing a series of riders through the first turns and placing eighth by the end of lap one. Passing Rea mid-way through this ten-lapper, Vierge held seventh to the line, further boosting his points tally as a result. Forced to start from the back of the grid after a challenging qualifying session, Iker made similar positive progress to his team-mate off the line, immediately making up seven positions. Fourteenth at the mid-race point, the Spaniard continued to push but was unable to improve further on his position, considering the limited laps available.
The weekend’s second and final full-length SBK race got underway as scheduled at 6pm, the conditions seemingly cooler and breezier (26°C air, 35°C track) than they were for Saturday’s race 1. Once he settled into a rhythm, Vierge battled with both Rea and Bassani for several laps but couldn’t make the same impact during the second half of the race as he had early on. Nevertheless, the Spaniard finished P9, rounding out an encouraging weekend. Team-mate Iker had to fight his way through the pack after starting from the back of the grid but was already up to seventeenth after the first lap. Continuing to gain ground as he found a good rhythm, Iker managed to pick up extra pace in the final laps, setting his fastest time on lap 18, and made up two more positions to cross the line thirteenth, inside the points zone.
Seven rounds in, and Vierge lies fifteenth in the overall championship standings with 46 points, Lecuona eighteenth with 37. Team HRC now heads directly to Estoril for a two-day test on 14-15 August and will then turn its attention to the eighth WorldSBK round, set to take place at the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in France on 6-8 September.
We’re happy with how our Sunday has gone, finally a solid day. Already at Most, I felt that we had a bit more potential, but we just weren’t able to fully realize it, a bit like yesterday when we were missing something. We worked so hard with the team after yesterday’s race, making changes to the bike setup for the Superpole race and then more changes for Race 2. The strategy worked well enough, and at least gave me the opportunity to fight with the others a little more. We are still struggling with acceleration but now we are able to at least compensate for that in braking and corner entry. Knowing how important it was to gain positions in the Superpole race, I did my best to start well and move as far inside the top ten as possible. P7 gave us a third row start for Race 2. Of course, that race was tougher, especially after ten laps when we were always on the limit. But we fought hard, all the way to the last corner, enjoyed a good battle, and completed a solid Sunday. I’m very happy with that, and with the small gains we’ve been making lately. As I said yesterday, it’s like a breath of fresh air that spurs us on. Now we have two more days of testing at Estoril, and it’s very important to keep pushing. Of course, it’s a difficult time, but nobody here is giving up, not even a little.
We’re happy with how our Sunday has gone, finally a solid day. Already at Most, I felt that we had a bit more potential, but we just weren’t able to fully realize it, a bit like yesterday when we were missing something. We worked so hard with the team after yesterday’s race, making changes to the bike setup for the Superpole race and then more changes for Race 2. The strategy worked well enough, and at least gave me the opportunity to fight with the others a little more. We are still struggling with acceleration but now we are able to at least compensate for that in braking and corner entry. Knowing how important it was to gain positions in the Superpole race, I did my best to start well and move as far inside the top ten as possible. P7 gave us a third row start for Race 2. Of course, that race was tougher, especially after ten laps when we were always on the limit. But we fought hard, all the way to the last corner, enjoyed a good battle, and completed a solid Sunday. I’m very happy with that, and with the small gains we’ve been making lately. As I said yesterday, it’s like a breath of fresh air that spurs us on. Now we have two more days of testing at Estoril, and it’s very important to keep pushing. Of course, it’s a difficult time, but nobody here is giving up, not even a little.
After the race, I told my team that I was the first to mess up our weekend, with qualifying. Anyway, that’s racing; it happens when you’re trying to give your very best, and it happened to me. I want to apologise to the team, because we really had good speed here. We made a good comeback in Race 1, and then today we tried something different for the Superpole race that I wasn’t totally happy with, but it was meant to work in the slow corners. We kept working and made further adjustments for Race 2. I made a good start in that race, but then for the first few laps, I was kind of blocked. I couldn’t really find a consistent level of performance until around mid-race. At that point, when the tyres dropped off a bit and the fuel load lightened, I started to be much faster and more consistent. Especially over the last seven laps, I was able to close in on the group ahead, make a few passes, and finish inside the points. Of course, the position is what it is, but my speed in the second half and the fact we were able to score a few points and and stay focused gives me good motivation for the upcoming test at Estoril. Let’s see what happens over the next few days.
After the race, I told my team that I was the first to mess up our weekend, with qualifying. Anyway, that’s racing; it happens when you’re trying to give your very best, and it happened to me. I want to apologise to the team, because we really had good speed here. We made a good comeback in Race 1, and then today we tried something different for the Superpole race that I wasn’t totally happy with, but it was meant to work in the slow corners. We kept working and made further adjustments for Race 2. I made a good start in that race, but then for the first few laps, I was kind of blocked. I couldn’t really find a consistent level of performance until around mid-race. At that point, when the tyres dropped off a bit and the fuel load lightened, I started to be much faster and more consistent. Especially over the last seven laps, I was able to close in on the group ahead, make a few passes, and finish inside the points. Of course, the position is what it is, but my speed in the second half and the fact we were able to score a few points and and stay focused gives me good motivation for the upcoming test at Estoril. Let’s see what happens over the next few days.
