Honda enjoyed their strongest weekend of the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with both Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and teammate Xavi Vierge securing three top-ten finishes at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, with the #97 fighting for the podium and taking fifth in the Tissot Superpole Race. Both riders were positive following the Motul French Round, praising the team and Japanese manufacturer for making gains in recent rounds.
Vierge claimed sixth in Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session while Lecuona was 19th in the classification after a tricky session. Vierge finished Race 1 in seventh place in a flag-to-flag battle after starting on slick tyres before pitting on Lap 4, while Lecuona came in a lap earlier and finished in sixth after starting on an intermediate front and slick rear tyre. In the Superpole Race, Vierge took fifth while Lecuona was seventh, securing the #7 a third-row grid slot after starting from towards the back in the first two races.
In Race 2 both Hondas were again in the ten and in the mix for a top six after an incredible four-rider showdown. They were fighting with Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW), with the fight going right until the chequered flag. A last-lap track limits infringement penalty for Redding promoted Vierge into seventh, behind Gardner, while Lecuona received a three-second penalty for shortcutting the track and not losing one second and was classified in 10th; he had taken the flag in P9.
Discussing Honda’s strong weekend and recent gains, Vierge said: “I want to say thank you to the team. They’re working so hard as always, but now we’re starting to see the results. In the last few races, our potential was more than we demonstrated. I was struggling a little bit with arm pump as everyone knows, I had the operation and Portimao was quite good. After that, we went to Estoril, and we had a really positive test. Here, we can see the benefits. It’s true that it was a strange weekend with the weather conditions, but we were competitive in all conditions so I’m really happy with that. The problems are still the same but we’re trying to minimise them. We’re making good progress in all areas. We’re still not ready to fight but if you compare now to the beginning of the season, we’re much closer and when you’re close to the top guys, it’s easy to see the difference and easy to improve.”
Lecuona’s thoughts were similar to his teammate’s, with the Spaniard saying: “Overall, I’m really happy because this morning in the Superpole Race, 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.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com