Iker Lecuona and Team HRC have made a strong start to the WorldSBK weekend at the Assen TT Circuit, crossing the line fifth in the first of the three scheduled races. Team-mate Xavi Vierge, who continues to recover from recent injury, bravely concluded the day’s race in eleventh position.

Both Lecuona and Vierge improved on yesterday’s performance in this morning’s final free practice, despite a crash for Iker towards the end of the session. During the subsequent qualifying phase, Vierge put together a fastest lap of 1’35.199 to place fourteenth, meaning a spot on the fifth row of the grid for him, while Lecuona set his best time in the final stages, a best of 1’34.543 seeing him place eighth at the session’s end, for a third-row start.

The lights went out on the first of the weekend’s races at 2pm local time. Seventh through the first turns, Lecuona exchanged positions a couple of times with Garret Gerloff before moving up to sixth place on lap eleven when Alex Lowes retired. Iker then was able to maintain a consistent pace while defending his position from Loris Baz and gained one more position in the latter stages to cross the line a solid fifth. This encouraging result gives him another eleven championship points.

Still battling with the consequences of his recent injury, Vierge battled hard to maintain as strong a pace as possible and ultimately concluded race 1 just one position shy of another top ten finish.

The Superpole race tomorrow will kick off at 11am local time while Race 2 will take place later than usual at 15.15pm local time.

Iker Lecuona 7

P5

“Fifth is a good result, our best so far in fact, so we are happy enough. The start was OK, I fought a little bit through the first laps with Gerloff, then I found myself riding alone for a while and, during that phase, I wasn’t losing too much with respect to the frontrunners. The gap eventually increased, and then I was involved in a long battle with Baz. He passed me but I got back past him and then defended my position all the way to the line; he was stronger in some parts of the track, me in others. I enjoyed the race and I’m happy with the pace we had and with the final result. After this morning’s crash I had lost a bit of confidence but by speaking with my manager and my team I was able to remain calm and focus on the fact that we’d been working well up until that point and had the potential to fight for the top five. I also wish to say a big thank you to the team because they worked very hard to repair the bike and we were ultimately able to make another little step forward. We want to fight for the podium of course, and we are not yet there but we are working very hard to reach that level.”

Xavi Vierge 97

P11

“It was a very hard race, and that’s a pity as we were expecting to be in better shape than we were at Aragón. Instead, it turned out to be even more difficult because of the track layout. Anyway, looking at the positives, we’ve improved our pace session by session and we ran a strong race until lap 16, after which I started to struggle much more. I think that we could have fought for seventh place so we must try and understand what we need to do to improve for tomorrow.”

WorldSBK 2022
Race Round 02   Netherlands

Results Tissot Superpole

Sunny
Humidity
50%
Track Temp
22°C
Air Temp
15°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'32.934
2 Lowes Alex 22 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'33.412 +0.478
3 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'33.621 +0.687
4 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'33.888 +0.954
5 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'34.018 +1.084
6 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'34.175 +1.241
7 Baz Loris 76 FRA Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'34.453 +1.519
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'34.543 +1.609
9 Bassani Alex 47 ITA Motocorsa Racing Ducati 1'34.666 +1.732
10 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 1'34.702 +1.768
11 Öttl Philipp 5 GER Team GOELEVEN Ducati 1'35.018 +2.084
12 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'35.045 +2.111
13 Redding Scott 45 GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'35.047 +2.113
14 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'35.199 +2.265
15 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'35.206 +2.272
16 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'35.215 +2.281
17 Haslam Leon 91 GBR TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 1'35.590 +2.656
18 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA B-Max Racing Team BMW 1'35.761 +2.827
19 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'35.956 +3.022
20 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha 1'36.000 +3.066
21 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'36.553 +3.619
22 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'36.634 +3.700
23 Konig Oliver 52 CZE ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'37.027 +4.093
24 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati
WorldSBK 2022
Race Round 02   Netherlands

Results Race 1

Sunny
Humidity
39%
Track Temp
29°C
Air Temp
18°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 25 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 33'22.865
2 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA 20 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 0.103
3 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR 16 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1.014
4 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 13 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 9.712
5 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 11 Team HRC Honda 17.451
6 Baz Loris 76 FRA 10 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 17.983
7 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 9 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 22.002
8 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 8 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 24.545
9 Redding Scott 45 GBR 7 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 25.118
10 Bassani Alex 47 ITA 6 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 26.938
11 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 5 Team HRC Honda 35.566
12 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA 4 Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha 41.901
13 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 3 BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 41.967
14 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA 2 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 42.014
15 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA 1 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 45.699
16 Haslam Leon 91 GBR 0 TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 45.882
17 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN 0 GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 45.972
18 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA 0 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 47.975
19 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG 0 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 48.144
20 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 0 MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 58.169
21 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'12.087
22 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA DNF ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 5 Laps
23 Lowes Alex 22 GBR DNF Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 10 Laps
24 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA DNF B-Max Racing Team BMW 14 Laps
Location Information

“The Cathedral” of motorcycle racing as it is known colloquially, the TT Circuit Assen has been hosting WorldSBK races since 1992, and celebrated its 25thanniversary as a Superbike venue in 2016. TT Circuit Assen

Pole Position Left
Length 4.542 Km
Corners 18
Right Corners 12
Left Corners 6

Records

Pole Record 1'32.934 (175,944 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
Race Record 1'33.620 (174,65 Km/h) A. Bautista (Ducati V4, 2022 SPR)
All Time Record 1'32.934 (174,87 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
2023 Race 1 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)
2023 Superpole Race Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)
2023 Race 2 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)