Honda HRC takes on the challenge that is Donington Park

On track at the historic Donington Park circuit, the Honda HRC Team faces a demanding Friday as the seventh round of the Superbike World Championship gets underway.

On Friday morning, factory riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge took to the track for the weekend’s opening practice session. Both riders used this initial phase to build confidence around a track that has proved challenging for them and the team in the past. The factory squad is joined this weekend by Honda test rider Tommy Bridewell, who is competing at what is his home track as a wildcard. By the end of the 45 minutes available, Lecuona had set an encouraging 1’27.408 to place eleventh. Having made some setup changes during the session that seemed to pay off in the latter stages, Vierge closed in sixteenth position with a time of 1’27.545, just one second from the frontrunner in a very tight field.

The day’s second practice ran in similarly sunny conditions, but higher temperatures made the track grip conditions even trickier. That said, Lecuona and Vierge continued to focus on prepping effectively for the weekend’s races. Lecuona was able to find a little more in terms of lap time, improving on his FP1 time with a 1’27.189. Likewise, Vierge lowered his time by a couple of tenths in the final stages (1’27.430), working hard with his technicians to find solutions that will hopefully bear fruit in the races. In a field where the first nineteen riders were covered by just one second, the factory Honda duo closed day one in eighteenth and twentieth place respectively, prepared to work hard with their respective crews to try and move forward on Saturday.

Honda test rider and local hero Tommy Bridewell put in a good day’s work at home track Donington, setting a best time of 1’27.278 during FP2 to place nineteenth.