Sunday’s World Superbike action at the Mandalika International Street Circuit may have brought two red-flagged races but this didn’t deter Team HRC, which was able to achieve its first podium of the 2023 season after Xavi Vierge ran an incredibly courageous race 2 to finish third!

The Superpole race got underway on time and in dry conditions. Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona moved straight into eighth and tenth, but the race was red-flagged after a lap one incident left oil on the track. With the race restarted shortly afterwards and reduced to just eight laps, Vierge soon progressed to sixth position, his strong pace allowing him to fight with the frontrunners. In the final lap Xavi held firm and finished this frantic sprint race in sixth place. Lecuona unfortunately wasn’t able to be as incisive as he’d been when the race began for the first time, placing fourteenth through the opening laps. Slipping back a little further as the race went on, Iker crossed the line sixteenth.

The final race began on dry asphalt but under cloudy skies. Lecuona worked hard over the opening stages of the race to progress from fifteenth to twelfth place. Vierge again got away well and was lying sixth early on, soon getting into a very strong rhythm that saw him move up into third by lap six. Part of a tight group of about six riders, the Spaniard was going great guns when the race was brought to a halt on lap seven after a crash involving two riders. The race was soon restarted, with riders lining up in the positions they had occupied prior to the interruption, so from third and ninth in the case of Vierge and Lecuona. Fourth and ninth by the end of lap one, the Team HRC duo did well to hold their positions considering the battles going on all around them. Despite lying a little further back, Lecuona’s lap times mirrored those of the frontrunners. Moving into eighth on lap nine, Iker battled Gardner in the latter stages of the race before concluding ninth. Picking up pace through the central stages of the race, Xavi was able to stick within half a second of Razgatlioglu, ahead in third, until the final stages of the race. Vierge’s determination paid off on the very last lap, when a mistake for another rider gave the Honda rider the opportunity to finish top three. Xavi crossed the line third to secure his first podium of the season, as well as his first aboard the CBR1000RR-R!

Team HRC currently places seventh in the standings with Vierge (43 points) and ninth with Lecuona (33 points). The factory squad will now continue its work back at base in preparation for the first of the European rounds, scheduled to take place at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands over the weekend of 21-23 April.

Xavi Vierge 97

SPRC P6 Race2 P3

“I want to thank the team for giving me an amazing bike that allowed me to be competitive. You can’t believe how happy I am, as we’ve been working so hard since last year but have somehow never quite been able to reach the podium. The start of the season has been very difficult, but the team has supported me so well and, here in Indonesia, they provided me with a bike that allowed me to find good feeling and speed. We continued to make progress over the weekend and now here we are. It wasn’t an easy day though, with two races and two red flags. But we managed to move up from thirteenth to sixth this morning so that I could start from the second row in race 2. Then this afternoon we were in third place with good pace and speed when they stopped the race. The team once again supported me and I had faith, giving it everything until the last laps. It’s true that Rinaldi ran wide, but we also were on the limit with our tyres and didn’t make a mistake. This podium is our reward. We’re improving race by race and will now do our best to continue on this path during the next rounds.”

Iker Lecuona 7

SPRC P16 Race2 P9

“It has not been an easy day and it rounds out what has been a very challenging weekend, but I want to first thank my team because they worked hard to repair the bike after three crashes, and in a very short space of time. We had ups and downs during every session and in the end, we just weren’t able to put it all together. My congratulations go to the entire team and my team-mate Xavi on scoring his first Superbike podium. Hopefully there will be more to come, for both of us, but for today congratulations to Xavi - this is his day.”

WorldSBK 2023
Race Round 02   Indonesia

Results Tissot Superpole Race

Sunny
Humidity
64%
Track Temp
49°C
Air Temp
31°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR 12 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha Time of Race 12'26.052
2 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 9 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1.110
3 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 7 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1.372
4 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 6 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 3.073
5 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 5 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 3.234
6 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 4 Team HRC Honda 4.251
7 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 3 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 4.617
8 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 2 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 4.792
9 Redding Scott 45 GBR 1 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 5.797
10 Aegerter Dominique 77 SWI 0 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 8.068
11 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 0 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 8.347
12 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 0 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 8.442
13 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 0 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 10.592
14 Gardner Remy 87 AUS 0 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 13.534
15 Baldassarri Lorenzo 34 ITA 0 GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 16.839
16 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 0 Team HRC Honda 17.365
17 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 18.881
18 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 33.614
19 Granado Eric 51 BRA 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 42.022
20 Sykes Tom 66 GBR 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 3 Laps
21 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA 0 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 5 Laps
22 Baz Loris 76 FRA 0 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 6 Laps
WorldSBK 2023
Race Round 02   Indonesia

Results Race 2 (Re-started - Laps 14)

Sunny
Humidity
62%
Track Temp
54°C
Air Temp
31°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA 25 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 21'43.781
2 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR 20 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1.218
3 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 16 Team HRC Honda 3.050
4 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 13 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 4.068
5 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 11 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 4.848
6 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 10 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 5.838
7 Gardner Remy 87 AUS 9 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 6.339
8 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 8 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 6.796
9 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 7 Team HRC Honda 9.095
10 Redding Scott 45 GBR 6 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 9.659
11 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 5 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 9.832
12 Aegerter Dominique 77 SWI 4 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 11.264
13 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 3 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 15.167
14 Baldassarri Lorenzo 34 ITA 2 GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 15.663
15 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 1 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 37.461
16 Sykes Tom 66 GBR 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 10 Laps
17 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 0 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 6 Laps
18 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 0 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 8 Laps
19 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 0 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 8 Laps
20 Konig Oliver 52 CZE DNF ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki
WorldSBK 2023

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA 112 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati
2 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR 75 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha
3 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 70 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha
4 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 51 Motocorsa Racing Ducati
5 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 47 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati
6 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 44 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki
7 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 43 Team HRC Honda
8 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 36 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati
9 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 33 Team HRC Honda
10 Aegerter Dominique 77 SWI 24 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha
11 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 23 Team GOELEVEN Ducati
12 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 22 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki
13 Gardner Remy 87 AUS 19 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha
14 Redding Scott 45 GBR 17 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
15 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL 16 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW
16 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 15 Bonovo Action BMW BMW
17 Baz Loris 76 FRA 6 Bonovo Action BMW BMW
18 Baldassarri Lorenzo 34 ITA 3 GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha
19 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 2 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
20 Sykes Tom 66 GBR 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki
21 Granado Eric 51 BRA 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
22 Konig Oliver 52 CZE 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki
Location Information

Mandalika International Street Circuit (MISC) Kuta, Pujut, Central Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara 83573 Lombok Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia E-mail: admin@themandalikagp.com Website: www.themandalikagp.com (source and image credits: Dorna)

Pole Position Left
Length 4.310 Km
Corners 17
Right 11
Left 6

Kuta, Kec. Pujut, Kabupaten Lombok Tengah, Nusa Tenggara Bar. 83573 - View in Google Maps

Records

Pole Record 1'31.371 (169,459 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
Race Record 1'32.163 (167,963 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu - SPR (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
All Times Record 1'31.371 (169,459 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
Race1 Winner 2023 A. Bautista (Ducati V4R)
Superpole Winner 2022 T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1)
Race2 Winner 2023 A. Bautista (Ducati V4R)