Team HRC riders Lecuona and Vierge place fourth and sixth in the first race making up this ninth WorldSBK round at the Cremona Circuit, scoring their best race result of the season so far.

Saturday kicked off with a final free practice session, in which factory riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge made significant progress. Iker ducked under 1’30 for the first time mid-session, moving up to sixth overall. With three minutes to go, the Spaniard set a blistering 1’29.100, which projected him further up the timesheets, into third place overall. Xavi too made some small technical adjustments and was able to set a best of 1’29.593 in the final stages, to place tenth, a good eight tenths better than his FP2 reference and just four tenths from his team-mate.

Later in the morning the team headed back on track for the Superpole qualifying. Vierge set a fast time early on, but this was unfortunately cancelled due to a yellow flag. Xavi’s best lap came in the final minutes, once he had pitted to make a tyre change. A time of 1’28.752 saw him move inside the top five with 3 minutes to go, with the rider ultimately qualifying seventh. Team-mate Iker set a similarly impressive initial time (1’28.811) that was then cancelled due to a yellow flag. The Spaniard also suffered a crash mid-session, through turn 7, which caused him to lose valuable time. Back out for the end of the session, Lecuona was finally able to put in a valid time, setting a 1’28.845 to place eighth. With these results, both Team HRC riders secured a spot on the third row of the grid for the afternoon’s first race.

Race 1 ran at 2pm CET in warm, sunny conditions. Both Vierge and Lecuona got away well, holding their starting positions through the first corners. Moving up into sixth on lap two, the rider #97 (who competed in his 97th SBK race today) soon got into a very good rhythm, with team-mate Iker able to match his pace. Progressing to fifth and sixth respectively on lap nine, Xavi and Iker then exchanged places and gained another position following a crash for Alex Lowes. By lap twelve, Iker had passed Locatelli to move up into third, a position he then held for four laps. Neither he nor Xavi were ultimately able to fend off Bautista, who was charging full speed from behind. Iker had just been relegated to fourth when the race was brought to a premature end with a red flag on lap seventeen owing to technical issues. In the final race classification, Iker finished P4, missing out on the podium by a little over one second and followed, just two seconds later, by team-mate Xavi, who lost out on fifth place to Bassani by just 86 thousandths of a second. Team HRC achieved its best combined result of the season so far.

Iker Lecuona 7

P4

"I feel exhilarated. First of all, thanks to the team, who very quickly repaired my bike during qualifying, after I had a crash that wasn’t too big but could still have completely ruined my session, especially since my only fast lap up to that point had just been canceled due to the yellow flags. It was a tricky session, with a lot of yellow flags, and finally, with only a few minutes remaining, I had just one chance to secure a decent spot on the grid, and fortunately, we did it. After a strong P3 in FP3, we knew we had the potential, and it would have been a shame to waste that. So P8 on the grid was fine. In the race, I was calm and confident, as I knew we had the pace to at least run at the front of the second group. I moved up to P5, trying to remain gentle on the tyres and waiting for the right moment behind my teammate. When I saw Locatelli was in P3, I thought it was time to go. I passed Xavi, signalling him to follow me, telling him, ‘let’s not lose time and let’s catch Loca.’ We caught him, I passed him and a small gap soon opened up. I struggled a bit with front grip, but I managed, even though I took some risks and nearly crashed at one point through turn two. I could ‘feel’ the podium but didn’t expect Alvaro to arrive with that kind of speed. I was a couple of tenths faster than the others in my group, but he was faster than me. I had no chance to defend third place, so I just stayed calm and finished the race. We got the job done, finishing close to the front, P4, in a long race that ran in dry conditions. It’s been a good day, and now we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Of course, the Superpole is always a gamble; everyone can give it their all as you don’t have to consider tyre life, so it can be an opportunity but also a disaster if something happens and you end up outside the top nine. Let’s stay focused and try to have a good Sprint so we can have another chance to exploit our strong pace in Race 2. Finally, congratulations to Danilo (Petrucci). I’m really happy for him. We were good teammates in MotoGP, and when he came here, I told him he would enjoy it a lot, so I’m really happy he’s taken a win in his home country".

Xavi Vierge 97

P6

"A solid day for us. Our first goal was to have a good qualifying session, and it wasn’t easy because there were a lot of yellow flags and lap time cancellations, but in the end, we managed to complete a lap that was good enough for the third row. That definitely helped, especially since I found myself struggling a bit with grip. It affected me from the start of the race; otherwise, realistically, it would have been possible to fight stronger. When Iker passed me, he had a bit more pace. I tried to stick with him, but I lost some time with Locatelli. After that, I was planning to save the tyres for the final lap, but then the race was red-flagged, and I didn’t get the chance to fight until the end. We have a clear idea of how to improve for tomorrow to manage the grip better and try to fight at the front again".

WorldSBK 2024
Race Round 09   Italy

Results Tissot Superpole

Sunny
Humidity
66%
Track Temp
26°C
Air Temp
21°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bulega Nicolò 11 ITA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'27.953
2 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Team GOELEVEN Ducati 1'28.068 0.115
3 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 1'28.285 0.332
4 Lowes Alex 22 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'28.310 0.357
5 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA PATA PROMETEON YAMAHA Yamaha 1'28.602 0.649
6 Lowes Sam 14 GBR ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati 1'28.615 0.662
7 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'28.752 0.799
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'28.845 0.892
9 Ray Bradley 28 GBR Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'28.883 0.930
10 Rabat Tito 53 SPA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 1'28.921 0.968
11 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'28.959 1.006
12 Bassani Axel 47 ITA Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'29.018 1.065
13 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'29.115 1.162
14 Reiterberger Markus 37 GER ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'29.116 1.163
15 Redding Scott 45 GBR Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'29.120 1.167
16 Gardner Remy 87 AUS GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'29.310 1.357
17 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'29.435 1.482
18 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA Motocorsa Racing Ducati 1'29.516 1.563
19 Canepa Nicolo 59 ITA PATA PROMETEON YAMAHA Yamaha 1'30.174 2.221
20 Marvin Fritz 17 GER GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'30.195 2.242
21 Öttl Philipp 5 GER GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 1'30.227 2.274
22 Mackenzie Tarran 95 GBR PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'30.243 2.290
23 Delbianco Alessandro 52 ITA GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'30.295 2.342
24 Bridewell Thomas 46 GBR Honda Racing UK Honda 1'30.615 2.662
25 Lopes Ivo 75 POR PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'30.853 2.900
WorldSBK 2024
Race Round 09   Italy

Results Race 1 (red flagged on lap 17)

Sunny
Humidity
54%
Track Temp
34°C
Air Temp
24°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 25 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati Time of Race 26'49.788
2 Bulega Nicolò 11 ITA 20 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 2.590
3 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA 16 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 6.383
4 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 13 Team HRC Honda 7.583
5 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 11 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 10.125
6 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 10 Team HRC Honda 10.211
7 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 9 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1 Sector
8 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 8 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1 Sector
9 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 7 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 2 Sectors
10 Gardner Remy 87 AUS 6 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 2 Sectors
11 Ray Bradley 28 GBR 5 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 2 Sectors
12 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 4 PATA PROMETEON YAMAHA Yamaha 2 Sectors
13 Redding Scott 45 GBR 3 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 2 Sectors
14 Reiterberger Markus 37 GER 2 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 2 Sectors
15 Delbianco Alessandro 52 ITA 1 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 2 Sectors
16 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 0 GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 3 Sectors
17 Marvin Fritz 17 GER 0 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 3 Sectors
18 Bridewell Thomas 46 GBR 0 Honda Racing UK Honda 3 Sectors
19 Lopes Ivo 75 POR 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 3 Sectors
20 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 0 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1 lap
21 Mackenzie Tarran 95 GBR DNF PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
22 Canepa Nicolo 59 ITA DNF PATA PROMETEON YAMAHA Yamaha
23 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA DNF Team GOELEVEN Ducati
24 Lowes Sam 14 GBR DNF ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati
25 Rabat Tito 53 SPA DNF Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki
Location Information

*Cremona Circuit: Strada Giuseppina 2, San Martino del Lago – 26040 (Cremona) Italy Tel: +39 0375 350359 E-mail: info@cremonacircuit.it Website: cremonacircuit.it ———————————————————– *Courtesy of DWO

POLE POSITION RIGHT
LENGTH 3.768 Km
CORNERS 13
RIGHT CORNERS 6
LEFT CORNERS 7

Records

Pole Record 1'27.953 (154,228 Km/h) D.Bulega (Ducati Panigale V4R, 2024)
Race Record 1'28.289 (153,641 Km/h) D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R, SPR, 2024)
All Time Record 1'27.953 (154,228 Km/h) D.Bulega (Ducati Panigale V4R, 2024)
2024 Race 1 Winner D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R)
2024 Superpole Race Winner D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R)
2024 Race 2 Winner D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R)