Vierge and Lecuona crash out while fighting for top six at Assen
TT Circuit AssenTeam HRC and riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge have today concluded the third round of the 2023 Superbike World Championship at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands.
Team HRC and riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge have today concluded the third round of the 2023 Superbike World Championship at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands. Unfortunately it was not their day, with both factory riders crashing out of the afternoon’s 21-lap race while battling inside the top ten.
Before gearing up for race 2, riders were out for the Superpole sprint race. Conditions were cool and sunny (air temp. 14°C, track temp. 20°C), but there was a slight delay to the start after an incident involving another rider left dirt on the track. The race was shortened to 8 laps and began roughly ten minutes later than scheduled. From tenth on the grid, Lecuona made up two positions off the line while Vierge, twelfth on the starting grid, also gained two positions through the first corners. Lapping with very similar times, Xavi moved ahead of team-mate Iker on lap two. While Vierge was able to hold ninth to the line, Lecuona battled with Van der Mark in the final stages, just missing out on a top ten finish to close eleventh.
The third and final race got underway as scheduled at 2pm local time. Now ninth and eleventh on the grid thanks to their results in the sprint race, Vierge and Lecuona immediately gained a position on lap one. Unfortunately Xavi’s race was over almost as soon as it began, the Spaniard crashing on lap three, at turn one, while pushing to stay in touch with the riders battling for sixth, with team-mate Iker moving into eighth as a result. Working hard to get into a rhythm, the remaining Team HRC rider moved briefly up into seventh, before battling with Gardner and Redding in the central stages of the race. It was not to be today though, with Iker suffering the same fate as his team-mate and crashing at turn four on lap eleven. Although he was briefly able to return to the track, the Spaniard was forced to pull into the pits and retire shortly afterwards.
With the first three championship rounds now complete, Vierge lies ninth in the general standings with 49 points, Lecuona lies thirteenth with 33. Team HRC will now focus its attention on round four, which is scheduled to take place at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in Spain on 5-7 May.
I first want to apologise to the team for my mistake in race 2. The team worked really hard between yesterday and today, making various changes to the bike. It wasn’t easy to decide what to do following warm-up, as we didn’t have the right conditions to really check it, but we believed in our work and headed into the Superpole race feeling confident. I was pleased with the way that race went as the bike allowed me to battle. I was able to finish top nine and that meant I gained a better grid position for race 2. As that race got underway, I was feeling good and the feeling was there, allowing me to fight for the top six. Unfortunately I made a small mistake through turn 1 and lost the front, and that was the end of that. Not the end we were hoping for, but after a difficult weekend we did find something that allowed us to be up there fighting for a solid result. So we need to take the positives and will now head to Barcelona, a track that can work better for us.
It was a tough day in general for me, the team and Honda, with me and Xavi both crashing in Race 2 and generally struggling at this track. We think we understood something about why the weekend developed as it did, so now it’s time to remain cool and focused, checking all the data and really understanding which changes to make to the setup of the bike, both for the next round and for the subsequent testing session at Misano. It’s true that last year I also had to save myself from some crashes, but this year we have crashed a lot. Having said that, thanks to the team, to Kuwata san, Mori san and everyone on the team for the trust they put in me. I trust them and the team and now we need to work and make the right choices.
