The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is on a hiatus after the fifth round of the season, but this is giving Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) the chance to fully recover after a crash at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. The Spaniard was injured after an incident involving Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in the Tissot Superpole Race which ruled him out of Race 2. Now, Lecuona has shared an update and explained his intention to return at the UK Round.
RECOVERY UPDATE: returning to two wheels to prepare for Donington
Petrucci was having his strongest weekend since joining WorldSBK as he claimed third place in the combined Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 times and taking fourth place in Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session. However, in Race 1, he crashed out while fighting for the podium and he was also involved in an incident with the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team duo at the start of the Superpole Race. The two-time MotoGP™ race winner tagged Dominique Aegerter who fell to the ground and this, in turn, caused Remy Gardner to fall. Aegerter finished 21st and last, while the Australian had to retire.
For this, the FIM Stewards penalised Petrucci with a Long Lap Penalty which he completed when running in sixth place. This dropped him down the order into tenth place, behind Lecuona and his teammate, Xavi Vierge, as they battled it out for a third-row grid start in Race 2. On Lap 7 at Turn 8, Petrucci collided with Lecuona which took both riders out of the race and brought out the red flags as the leaders started Lap 8; the Honda rider was declared unfit with a left hip injury and left ankle contusion.
As part of his rehabilitation and recovery, Lecuona is using a specialised centre in Madrid as he prepares for his return at the UK Round at the start of July; he will need to undergo medical checks at Donington to be declared fit to ride. Talking about the incident and his current status, Lecuona said: “It was an unexpected crash. I was doing the normal corner, like every lap, and Danilo touched me. In half a second, he was on the ground. It wasn’t a big crash, but the problem was that the bike started spinning and crushed my leg.
“At first, it seemed that 50% of my psoas muscle was torn, but later tests confirmed that this was not the case; probably due to the inflammation and bruising. I’m fine, no discomfort, so 100% I’ll be at Donington. I am doing a lot of cycling and working for the abdominal area so as not to overload the hip area. This week I will be back on the bike to prepare for Donington.”
“IT SEEMS THAT WE ARE A BIT LOST”: Lecuona aiming to find a direction
The 23-year-old also spoke about how the Emilia-Romagna Round was going up to the crash, explaining that the improvements that Honda brought to the Aragon, Catalunya and Misano tests may not be working for him as expected: “Up to that point, It was a weekend of ups and downs. Friday didn’t go very well, but we made some changes for Saturday and had a good Superpole. In Race 1, in the beginning, we found ourselves in a traffic jam, but little by little we improved and finished with podium pace.
“Sunday was more complicated as we didn’t have the same feelings. Warm Up and the Superpole Race didn’t go so well. I was going very close to the limit and, in fact, I was going backwards before the crash. On Saturday at Misano, we went back to last year’s setup because we weren’t finding a way to go fast. It seems that we are a bit lost and we don’t know exactly what is the line of progression that we should follow. At the moment, the improvements are all ups and downs. One day they go well and another day they go wrong.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com