Honda HRC
WorldSBK 2022
Race Round 08   Catalunya

Race results fail to reflect the Team HRC riders’ potential at Barcelona

Round eight of the Superbike World Championship has now drawn to a close at Barcelona in Spain, with Team HRC finishing sixth and eighth in the day’s second and final Superbike race with riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona. After scoring a fantastic pole position with Lecuona yesterday, Team HRC has demonstrated that the speed is clearly there, but that there is still margin of improvement in terms of general consistency over race distance.

Having qualified in first place in yesterday’s Superpole, Lecuona lined up on the front row of the grid for the morning’s ten-lap Superpole race but unfortunately his race soon came to an end, a crash ruling him out before the conclusion of the opening lap. Ninth on the starting grid, Vierge was up into seventh by lap two, battling with Bassani and Oettl for sixth. Able to pass his two rivals and move into sixth on lap three, Xavi then held that position until lap six when he and Oettl once again exchanged positions. Vierge ultimately crossed the line in seventh place.

The second of the day’s races saw Vierge and Lecuona start seventh and tenth respectively, based on their results in the earlier sprint race. Lying fifth and eighth one lap into the race, they lapped with very similar times to each other throughout the first half of the race. Having settled into sixth (Xavi) and seventh (Iker) place early on, the Spanish duo maintained their pace but were unable to improve their final positions. Vierge and Lecuona therefore crossed the line sixth and eighth respectively.

The points scored over the course of the weekend have helped boost Lecuona’s tally to 158 points, the rider lying eighth ahead of Vierge, tenth with 99 points. The next WorldSBK round will see Team HRC compete at Portimão in Portugal over the weekend of 7-9 October.

Xavi Vierge 97

SPRC P7 RC2 P6

“In the end, we were able to finish our weekend here in Barcelona in a very positive way, with a seventh- and a sixth-place finish. Above all, we learned a lot, especially from yesterday’s experience when we decided to go into Race 1 with a different tyre to what we had originally planned. We studied all the data, worked hard on the electronics and today used the tyre that we had originally thought could be good for us, and it was! We managed the tyre wear much better than yesterday, considering that the only rider who maintained the same pace until the end was Alvaro, who completed an amazing weekend. The rest of the field struggled towards the end of the races so today, having learned from yesterday, I realised mid-race that I couldn’t maintain a 1’42 pace so I slowed my rhythm in order to get to the end with the tyre. We must work on this of course, something we’ll do during testing, but over the race weekends we need to focus on what we have and try to exploit that to the full over the remaining races.”

Iker Lecuona 7

SPRC DNF RC2 P8

“This weekend has been a hard one for us, with only a few bright moments where we highlighted our potential and our speed. Today I felt good enough in warm-up and could maintain good pace. In the Superpole race, I was up to the front in the first lap but then as I went to pass Locatelli through turn 10, I lost the front and crashed. It was a bit unexpected, honestly, and of course I want to apologize to Andrea (Locatelli) because he ran into the gravel and it was my fault. Then we modified something on the bike for race 2 but I realised right from the first braking point into corner one that we were going to struggle all the way, so I did my best, made a few passes and then tried to stay with Xavi, trying to conserve the tyres. It wasn’t easy because I wasn’t perfectly comfortable with the braking and had to manage a big drop on tyre performance towards the end, but I did all I could to finish the race as well as possible. We will concentrate our work on this area as we prepare for the next races.”

WorldSBK 2022
Race Round 08   Catalunya

Results Superpole Race

Sunny
Humidity
75%
Track Temp
28°C
Air Temp
18°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA 12 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati Time of Race 16'59.889
2 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 9 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1.185
3 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 7 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1.377
4 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR 6 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 5.088
5 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 5 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 9.016
6 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 4 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 10.506
7 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 3 Team HRC Honda 10.637
8 Redding Scott 45 GBR 2 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 10.947
9 Baz Loris 76 FRA 1 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 14.575
10 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 0 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 14.601
11 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 17.326
12 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA 0 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 17.644
13 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN 0 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 19.942
14 Laverty Eugene 50 IRE 0 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 20.672
15 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA 0 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 20.723
16 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 0 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 20.886
17 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA 0 Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha 23.918
18 Gutierrez Oscar 99 SPA 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 25.744
19 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG 0 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 25.759
20 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 37.666
21 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 0 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 45.370
22 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 0 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 2 Laps
23 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 0 Team HRC Honda
WorldSBK 2022
Race Round 08   Catalunya

Results Race 2

Sunny
Humidity
50%
Track Temp
39°C
Air Temp
22°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA 25 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 34'15.354
2 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 20 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 8.103
3 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR 16 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 9.090
4 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 13 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 10.210
5 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 11 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 15.677
6 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 10 Team HRC Honda 20.320
7 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 9 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 33.622
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 8 Team HRC Honda 35.008
9 Baz Loris 76 FRA 7 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 35.092
10 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA 6 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 40.108
11 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA 5 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 42.746
12 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA 4 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 43.165
13 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 3 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 46.197
14 Laverty Eugene 50 IRE 2 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 46.420
15 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN 1 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 48.365
16 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 0 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 50.985
17 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG 0 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 54.132
18 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'12.447
19 Gutierrez Oscar 99 SPA 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 7 Laps
20 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 0 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 9 Laps
21 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA 0 Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha 16 Laps
22 Redding Scott 45 GBR 0 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
23 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 0 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki
WorldSBK 2022

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA 394 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati
2 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR 335 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha
3 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 327 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki
4 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 205 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati
5 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 173 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha
6 Bassani Alex 47 ITA 170 Motocorsa Racing Ducati
7 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 161 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 158 Team HRC Honda
9 Redding Scott 45 GBR 147 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
10 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 99 Team HRC Honda
11 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 92 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha
12 Baz Loris 76 FRA 88 Bonovo Action BMW BMW
13 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 66 Team GOELEVEN Ducati
14 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA 47 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki
15 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA 34 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha
16 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA 32 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati
17 Laverty Eugene 50 IRE 26 Bonovo Action BMW BMW
18 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 18 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
19 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN 14 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha
20 Fores Xavi 15 SPA 12 Team GOELEVEN Ducati
21 Mykhalchyk Illia 37 UKR 10 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
22 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA 9 Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha
23 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 4 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
24 Haslam Leon 91 GBR 4 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki
25 Mackenzie Tarran 95 GBR 3 McAMS Yamaha Yamaha
26 Hickman Peter 10 GBR 2 FHO Racing BMW
27 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG 2 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
28 Vinales Isaac 32 SPA 0 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha
29 Rabat Tito 53 SPA 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki
30 Marvin Fritz 17 GER 0 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha
31 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA 0 B-Max Racing Team BMW
32 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki
33 Vickers Ryan James 77 GBR 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki
34 Gutierrez Oscar 99 SPA 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki
35 Delbianco Alessandro 25 ITA 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki
36 Cresson Loris 84 BEL 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki
Location Information

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Carrer Mas Moreneta, 08160 Montmeló, Barcelona, Spain Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

POLE POSITION Right
LENGHT 4.627 Km
CORNERS 14
RIGHT CORNERS 8
LEFT CORNERS 6

Records

Pole Record 1'39.489 (168,513 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR, 2024)
Race Record 1'40.955 (166,066 Km/h) N. Bulega (Ducati V4 R, 2024, SPRC)
All Time Record 1'39.489 (168,513 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR, 2024)
2024 Race 1 Winner T.Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR)
2024 Superpole Winner T.Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR)
2024 Race 2 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4 R)
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