García scores points in his debut WorldSBK race at Magny-Cours; a race incident stops Vierge on lap one

Honda HRC rider Xavi Vierge was unlucky to be involved in a race incident at the start of Saturday’s Race 1 at Magny-Cours, while replacement rider Sergio García did well to place eleventh in his first ever WorldSBK race.

Saturday brought a final practice for the two Honda HRC riders, ahead of Superpole qualifying and the first of the weekend’s races. The team and riders made final setup adjustments during this 20-minute phase, with García able to shave off a fraction of a second with respect to his times of Friday. Already quick yesterday, Vierge focused on preparing effectively for the subsequent qualifying.

As the Superpole qualifying got underway, in dry, sunny conditions, Vierge immediately put in a 1’36.463 and, after returning to the garage mid-session to change tyre, he was able take off another half second. A fastest time of 1’35.939 saw Xavi qualify for Race 1 in eleventh position, on the fourth row of the grid.

Already able to improve his lap time in every practice session, García also handled his first Superpole very well. He broke the 1’38 barrier for the first time with his opening qualifying tyre, setting a strong 1’37.124, before further lowering his time with the second tyre to close the session in 1’36.924, which placed him nineteenth.

Vierge was keen to make the most of his starting position as Race 1 got underway. Straight into twelfth through the first corners, Xavi was unfortunately caught up in a crash on the very first lap, going down along with three other riders in two separate incidents at Turn 9. The Spaniard was unhurt, though the bike sustained some minor damage that the team could repair quickly and, unyielding as ever, he rejoined the race to gather valuable data. Vierge eventually finished seventeenth.

Taking part in his very first WorldSBK race, García put in a solid performance. Starting from nineteenth, he gained four places on the opening lap to move into the points. The young rider made no mistakes and, after settling into a consistent rhythm, climbed to twelfth by lap six. Managing the drop in tyre performance as best as he could over the final laps, he eventually crossed the line in a noteworthy eleventh place in what turned out to be a crash-studded race.

This result saw the Spaniard collect five championship points in his debut race.